The following story was posted by contibutor Don Yelton to a Yahoo! Group, I copied and pasted it here:
Wilson Daily



Wilson, NC
wilsondaily.com
Tuesday, December 27, 2005


Rally for Frank Ballance will help pay off some legal bills


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By Alex Keown

Daily Times Staff Writer

Supporters of former U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance are rallying Wednesday to raise money to help pay off legal bills the former congressman has incurred.

This will be the second rally in a month honoring Ballance, who is scheduled to report to prison Friday. The event, called a "People's Freedom Rally," will be at the Roanoke River Community Center in Roanoke Rapids.

Ballance, a one-term congressman and 20-year member of the General Assembly, was sentenced to four years in federal prison in October for misusing $100,000 in public money over nearly a decade. A federal judge also sentenced him to spend two years on supervised release plus pay $61,000 in restitution and a $10,000 fine.

Gary Grant, an organizer of the rally, said organizers are hoping donations given at the rally will help alleviate some of the financial burden on Ballance. Plus, Grant said his supporters don't want to let "all the good the congressman has done be tainted by the court rulings."

"He was the first congressman who brought money into the African-American community as a state legislator," Grant said. "Even though the press tried to demonize him, they never talked about the good he did. If the press doesn't publish bad news, nobody would want to read the paper."

Grant said subsidizing the John A. Hyman Memorial Foundation helped many people "pull themselves out of the mire" and helped people with drug problems.

Ballance, who was chairman of the foundation, pleaded guilty to taking more than $100,000 in state money for personal use.

Grant said organizers of the rally know Ballance broke the law when he misappropriated state funds, but they don't want to "destroy the good he did" in eastern North Carolina.

Ballance is expected to report for his four-year prison term at the end of this week; however, he could be called to report early.

Grant said they hope Ballance won't be ordered to prison before the rally. If that happens, he said organizers will still hold the event.

Grant said he hopes 200-300 people will attend, including N.C. Sen. Robert Holloman, D-Hertford, who took over Ballance's seat in the General Assembly, and former U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton, Butterfield's predecessor in Congress and a personal friend.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, who succeeded Ballance in Congress, also is expected to attend. However, Butterfield said Monday that he's not planning to be there.

"You've got some bad information there," Butterfield said.

Ballance couldn't be reached for comment.

alexjk@wilsondaily.com | 265-7847



Copyright ©, The Wilson Daily Times, Wilson, North Carolina





Don Yelton


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Peace Out!
Bobby

Sign a petition to stop the Gas Tax Hike

Sign a petition to stop the Gas Tax Hike

Give me a couple of days to fool around on the computer, and all havoc breaks loose!

I'm just playing around right now, so check back for implrovements, and give suggestions for what you'd like to see, or build one for yourself and leave a link to it in the comments or on the forum I'm playing around with as well as a counter.

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The BlackOut Rally is Thursday, December 15th, not on Wednesday. I guess I had an acute attack of dyslexia.

Click on the following links for more info:

Black Out Website
Yahoo! BlackOut Group

Don Yelton is advising everyone to bring flashlights and dress warmly. I would add an umbrella to the kit due to the forecast. Do not let the weather keep you away! A large crowd in the rain will put an exclaimation point on our whole endeavor! !!!

Scroll Down for Updates

The BlackOut Rally to welcome jim Black to Asheville is gathering steam, and the meeting place is at: Yahoo Group Black Out

So far, at least one chapter of FreedomWorks from Transylvania may participate.
Matt Mittan of Take A Stand may do his show live from 3 to 6 on the day of the rally.
Brian O'Brien will do an hour on Monday morning at 8am.
Brandon Randolph will cover the rally after 12.30 on WZNN, his show airs from noon to 1pm Eastern Time.

several Websites have featured stories, including:
The Conservative Voice
NC Rumors
FreedomWorks

An Editorial

More later, as I get time...

Bobby

UpdateSun 12/11/2005

BlackOut Rally Website is now up and running.
A contributer to this blog, Don Yelton, will be interviewed on WBT 1110 AM out of Charlotte for approx. 7 minutes starting around 7.05 AM. Good Luck, Don!

Don't forget that WZNN 1350 AM will cover the rally on "Top of the Morning with Brian and Betsy", "No Apologies with Brandon Randolph", and Peter Dawes and Carri Hudson may cover it on "Mountain Guardian", and Ken Bagwell will probably mention it on "Heads Up America."

Asheville Tribune
Mountain Guardian

Use these links in this post to get more up-to-date info from the forums and websites. We need a lot of people to show up Wednesday. I spent the morning handing out flyers Saturday in Franklin that I downloaded and printed out from the BlackOut Yahoo Group. Talk it up and lets get a crowd out there on Wednesday afternoon!

See you at the rally!

Bobby
1.15 pm Sun
12/11/2005

On December 15, 2005, Speaker Jim Black will arrive in Asheville for a Democrat Party Fundraiser. Some of us will meet him. You are invited to participate.

Flyer

Mountain Guardian

Unrelated, but I've found a local blog on asheville city council called, you guessed it, City-Council