If that happens, firefighters in Cornelius said they are going to have to scramble to find about $95,000. Chief Jim Barbee said that is about 8 percent of their budget.

Homeowners fighting their property's tax revaluation are again searching for answers after county commissioners were told last week there was nothing they could do to stop the appeals process.

From Ned Flemming of Cornelius, in response to "It's past time to abolish the death penalty in North Carolina" : As John Moore states in his For the Record column, "Those who do wrong must be punished, but this system is flawed." The young man who murdered my wife in 1989 accepted a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty.