“Richard Burr is the wrong Senator for North Carolina. He stands as a roadblock to progress on the major challenges facing our state and our nation from economic recovery to job creation to health care. He has consistently voted against the interests of working families in North Carolina and in favor of health insurance companies, big oil, and other special interests. North Carolina is ready for a change in the Senate, as shown in Richard Burr’s low approval ratings. I look forward to helping a Democratic candidate defeat Richard Burr in 2010, but I will not be that candidate.”

“After careful consideration and thoughtful discussions with my family, friends, and colleagues – for whose support I am deeply grateful – I have decided not to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010. I have been humbled by the encouragement I have received while contemplating this decision and I appreciate the confidence so many people have placed in me. Ultimately, I believe that I can best help the people of North Carolina during this economic downturn by remaining in the House of Representatives and continuing to serve as North Carolina’s only member of the House Ways and Means Committee.”

“As I seek re-election to Congress, I look forward to sharing victory with our Democratic Senatorial candidate and working with our new Senator to improve the economy and create jobs for the working families of this great state.”

I don’t reprint this because I support or oppose Johnson (or any other candidate) but because it was more than I could include in my story and contained several points that should generate plenty of discussion. To say the least.

If you’ve got comments, bring ‘em on. Here’s the text:

Four years ago this month, I decided after much thought and encouragement from friends and family to pursue my lifelong ambition to become the sheriff of Lee County. For the next six months I met hundreds of good people and tried to relay to them my love for law enforcement and my desire to provide the most professional and experienced protection to the people of Lee County. At the time I felt that my total of 38 years of experience in both law enforcement and working through the judicial branch of government made me the most qualified person of all the candidates that were running at the time. We encountered a brutal and tiring primary and subsequently lost the primary to Kevin Bryant. Kevin eventually lost the general election in November 2006 to now current Sheriff Tracy Carter by the slimmest of margins.

For all the above reasons I am formally announcing that I will be a candidate on the Democratic ticket for sheriff of Lee County in 2010.

I drove out that day and watched him land while our former photographer Brooke Wolfe took photos. It was a heck of a sight, but the pictures in the paper (as good a photographer as Brooke is) didn’t have the same impact as seeing the plane land.

Now, you can share my experience. Check it, bleed:

Fish Head Stew

A friend of mine recently told me about how, when she was a child, her step-father would tell her, every time they were going out to dinner, that they were going to a restaurant called Hobbo’s. Hobbo’s only served fish heads, he told her.

The threat of Hobbo’s would make her cry each and every time. I can’t really say I would have reacted any different, although I plan to use this tactic if I ever have children. It’s probably pretty mean, but it’s also one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a while. Just the name “Hobbo’s” cracks me up. I wonder if that guy (my friend’s stepfather) came up with that himself.

Which brings me to something else: a Google search shows me that there is an Australian seafood restaurant chain called Hobbo’s Hut. Gross! No word on whether they serve fish heads. Who can say?

Anyway, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I have severely neglected this blog for the past, oh, half of a year. Shame on me. I plan to get back into the swing of things starting, well, now. The Hobbo’s story was the first thing to really get my brain working creatively. Which is pretty sad. Check back for more observations, news updates, incoherent ramblings, and other nonsense.

Anyway, check out the Plaintiffs:

Before:

After:

I’d also like to thank everyone who has donated to me. They are:

My aunt, Kim Raphael. Endlessly generous.
Joe Jon Bryant and his wife Stacie. Sanford resident and blog-pal. His donation was in honor of his late friend Jonathan.
Ross Tipton and Lindsay Soebbing. Good friends of mine.
Matthew and Kari Cottle. Friends from the wayback!
Steven Cottle. Twin brother of Matthew Cottle. Also a friend from the wayback!
Adam Thompson. Buddy from Wilmington, NC, honoring his late brother Kevin.
Byron Raphael. My cousin, also undergoing the shears with me.
John C. Holly and wife. Captain of the Lee County Sheriff’s Department drug enforcement team.
Jamie Stamm. My co-worker and friend.
Brooke Wolfe. Ditto what I said about Jamie. Her donation was in honor of her late uncle Lawrence.
Emily Page. Blog-pal and Sanford resident. Her donation was in honor of her friend, the late Olga Horton.
Ty Stumpf. Brain-washing, mind-shaping liberal communist activist.
Kim Pritt. Another blog-pal and Sanford resident.

I think that covers everyone.

Like I said before, no amount is too small. I don’t normally like to ask people for money, unless you’re a former roommate who owes me money, but this is an important cause for me. St. Baldrick’s raises money for childhood cancer research, so there’s no arguing that this is a good thing. It’s fun too!

You can donate on me by clicking here.

The shaving itself happens at Local Joe’s Tap and Grill, 135 S. Steele St. in Sanford between 6 and 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 12. I’d love to have $300 in pledges by the time I walk into Joe’s tomorrow, so if 15 of you who have said you could pledge some cash would just kick in $1 apiece, I can make up the other $200 through hustling the people at Joe’s tomorrow.

Also, it’s not too late to sign up as a shavee! You can do so here. It’s just hair, and you can raise some money for a good cause. Have fun. Live a little.

Let’s see if we can’t keep this going! Anything helps. $5, $1, 50 cents, whatever you can spare helps. Donate here if you feel so inclined.

Click here to read more about what I’m doing.

And a huge, huge thanks to everyone who has donated so far.

I’m participating in the Sanford St. Baldrick’s event which will be held all day at Local Joe’s Tap and Grill.

For those of you who don’t know what St. Baldrick’s is, check out the link I provided. In a nutshell, you sign up to get your head shaved as a show of solidarity with kids suffering from cancer. In the process, you raise pledge money, which is turned over to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The foundation provides money for child cancer research, and is a good thing all around.

My goal this year is to raise $500, and I’m hitting up all my blog buddies and anyone else who might be reading this thing. Can you pledge $5? $1? 50 cents? Please do. The money will all go to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and forward the cause of ending cancer among children (and everyone else).

I don’t talk about it a lot, but this issue is pretty important to me, as I lost my mother to cancer in 1994. She wasn’t a child, but the sentiment is good enough for me.

I’d also encourage anyone who doesn’t mind losing their hair to sign up as a shavee. Tony Chilton, one of the event’s organizers, said his goal is to have 100 shavees. So far, there are 33, including at least four women with guts enough to drop their hair for a great, great cause.

If you don’t want to shave your head, it’s not a problem, but I’d encourage anyone who cares about this sort of event to come and enjoy some food and drinks and the sight of me losing my mop (again the event is Saturday, July 12 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.). And if you’re so inclined, donate a few clams to the cause. You can do so by clicking here.

You can find more information about the event (and sign up to be involved!) here.

My bad.

Anyway, today I made my first foray into broadcasting, appearing with my editor Billy Liggett and colleague Jon Owens on Billy’s new radio show The Rant, which you can now listen to weekly at 8 a.m. Wednesday on 90.5 F.M. WDCC in Sanford.

I’m listening to a podcast of it now, and while I’m not very pleased with my performance (the recorded sound of my own voice makes me cringe), I’m going to do it again as often as possible and think I’m capable of getting a lot better at it. It was a great time.

So, my bad on the lax blogging. Check back tomorrow for an entry about something real important that I’m going to be involved with next month.