First the bad news...

WZNN is no more.
The station will become a Sports Talk Radio affiliated with Fox Sports Radio.
The excellent hosts, callers, and advertisers will be missed.
I will post more here as time allows.

The biggest impact to this blog will be the loss of No Apologies Radio and its coverage of State Issues, and the wealth of knowledge aired as callers such as R.L. Clark, Don Yelton, Grady Beard, and others too numerous to mention. The guy on WWNC covers the ground, especially with a three hour show, but I feel he hasn't been able to get people motivated. Maybe we can move in and get him motivated. I also will miss Brandon because he has a Southern Accent like me and hasn't tried to change it.

Brian O'Brien also did well covering State and Local Issues, and was recently lighting a fire under D.S.S. (In case you don't know...That stands for Dept of Stupid S...s.)

Peter Dawes, Carri Hudson, and Tim Peck did their job as well.

Ken Bagwell covered everything and anything.

One thing everyone at work knew was to wait for a commercial or the High Sign from me before interupting while I was listening, and especially when I was taking notes.

Everyone at the Station can be proud of what they did while there, and the journey doesn't end here, it will go on...

Now, to change the subject to the Gas Tax Situation...
What follows is copied from my email...
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From: "Stop The Gas Tax Hike.com" Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
To: "Robert Coggins Jr"
Subject: Thank you for signing our Petition to stop the gas tax hike
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:18:42 -0500

Robert Coggins Jr,

Since I wrote you last, there has been good news and bad news in our
fight to repeal the latest gas tax hike.

Our movement is growing stronger and stronger by the day. Over 32,000
of you have signed the petition asking the Legislature to repeal the gas
tax increase. And I thank you again for getting involved.

First, the good news is that we had a very successful press conference
on January 4th and we presented the then 22,000-signed petitions at the
General Assembly. In case you did not see the press coverage, I have
included the web addresses for some of the pieces below. These stories
aired January 5th on WRAL and NBC-17, as well as the article written by
Rob Christensen at the News and Observer.

Nonprofit Group Raises Awareness About State’s Gas Tax Hike-WRAL


Group: 22,000 Want Gas Tax Hike Stopped-NBC 17


Lawyer drives gas-tax fight-News and Observer


Did you know?

• North Carolina has raised the gas tax a whopping 37% since 2002.
• North Carolina drivers are paying $300 million a year in extra gas
tax.
• We pay the 5th highest gas tax in the country but we drive on the
country’s 5th worst roads because legislators use the highway trust fund
for pork barrel projects like the Teapot Museum.
• Politicians have robbed the Highway Trust Fund of over a billion
dollars-$534 million in the last 5 years alone.

Unfortunately, like the Pharaoh in ancient Egypt who refused to let the
people go, the tax and spend liberals refuse to let their gas tax go.
They want to keep their tax no matter how many North Carolinians get
hurt.

They believe if they simply stonewall us, we’ll go away. The Charlotte
Observer just reported drivers better get used to it: North Carolina's
recent 2.8-cent per gallon gasoline tax hike appears to be staying.

Instead of really doing something to help us taxpayers, the Leaders of
the General Assembly created a legislative committee to study the gas
tax. But the committee, which met for the first time Thursday, January
5th, can only make recommendations. None were made at the meeting, and
no future meetings are planned.

They can run but they cannot hide. That’s why we’re stepping up the
heat.

North Carolina Conservatives United is going to continue to rally
support for repealing the gas tax and we need your help. Please help us
spread the message by sending an email to your entire address book and
encourage those individuals to go to www.stopthegastaxhike.com and sign
our petition.

Ronald Reagan used to say that when politicians felt the heat, they
would see the light. If we step up the pressure, we have a better chance
that the Legislature will roll back the gas tax increase.

Thank you again for getting involved. When people get involved, we can
have good government.


Bill Graham
Chairman
North Carolina Conservatives United

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If you haven't signed the petition yet, Just click on this with your mouse.
You'll be glad you did. Also email or call your local representative to Raleigh and ask why they keep raising your gas taxes.

Bobby