Duke's BBQ Today

No, no, you can't go back to lurking, you made a contribution here, now you are a blogger. 

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle

Fred Catchpole Office 904-771-6852 Cell 904-708-5541

The Barbacue that I attended yesterday was the first of its kind that I attended.  The Dukes hospitality and dedication to educating the voter of the positions of its candidates is commendable.

I enjoyed meeting so many people interested in what is going on in our government and community.

To those other candidates who spoke I want to congratulate you for very good performances.

There is no doubt that those who attended were very appreciative of the Dukes efforts. 

I never knew so many Independents existed in our County LOL

Fred Catchpole

I showed up too late and missed all the speeches but a couple. It was a very nice affair and the food was terrific. My thanks go out to Mr. Dukes for such great hospitality. I did get to meet Marsha and Fred who were very gracious. Marsha is a lovely woman and Fred is a very lucky man. He has my vote and I am very happy more Independents are speaking up and geting involved.

I did get to hear Mr Taylor. I am undecided as to who i will vote for in the sheriff race as Mr. taylor was a terrific speaker and seems to have a bunch of energy. I certainly came away from his talk doubting much of what the anti-Taylor forces are saying. I have no fight with Sheriff Beseler either. This is a tough one to call. If Mr. Neuman was there I missed him.

I was also very impressed with Durwood Smith. Why he isn't running for something is surprising. His energy sure puts to shame many half his age.

I am looking forward to the next outing.

These are very nice folks. If I am as sharp at 80 (or even alive) as Mr. Dukes is at 94 I will be a mighty happy man. Gracious comes to mind immediately when you meet them. So do concerned and involved.

Durwood certainly has a presence about him doesn't he?

It was great to see and hear the candidates without the restraint of a strict program or restrictive party rules.

Speakers seemed to be relaxed and able to speak more openly than I have heard in the past at various forums.

Mike Heemer

Oneguy,  Thank you for the kind words and your endorsement for Fred. As I said yesterday at the event, I hope you will participate in the blogs and share your views and invite those in your circle of life to do the same.  It's just a great place for the residents to get together on a daily basis to discuss what's going on.  You have to work your way through the smoke and mirrors sometimes but that exists everywhere.

I enjoyed the event as well, met some new people who read the blogs but don't participate in them.  I am still happily enjoying the reality of having over 1,700 guests on this site last weekend.  It was nice to see a turnout of voters, while candidates and their supporters obviously outnumbered just regular citizens there was still a decent turnout.  I agree with Mike that it was a much more relaxed atmosphere then any of the forums I've attended which aren't very many. 

What I walked away with and this is my opinion only is that we have alot of Candidates with Political Baggage.  For me the term "political baggage" can be how many political posts you've already had, or who you're accepting money from.  Experience in a myriad of positions to me is a subtracting point, not an addition. It takes too much effort to try and figure out who these people may be beholding to.  I'm looking at those candidates where they exist that carry the least amount of political baggage because I think Clay County needs a fresh perspective. 

I'm hoping once we get past the Primary that there will be many more forums, all the members of the Snowball Club were present yesterday and hopefully they'll get together and create some dialogue for the public as well as hoping more people like the Dukes step forward to assist. 

Were all of the candidates in attendance?

How many people do you guess were there?

How many people mentioned that they had only heard about the Duke's BBQ here on myclaysun?

Fred said in conversation after the event yesterday that he estimated that there were probably 150 people there.  No one said anything to either of us about hearing about it through MCS.  I believe this is a re-occuring event every election cycle but don't hold me to that.  No, all Candidates and virtually no Incumbants that are running for re-election were there.

From D1 Wendell Davis was there

D3-Deborah Terry, Travis Cummings and our Snowball Candidate Ron Raymond.

D5- Fred and JD Wiesenberger (JD forgive me if I spelled that wrong)

At Large- Ronnie Coleman, Diane Hutchings.  Someone said Paul Ackley had been there but left before he had the opportunity to speak.

Chair- Mike Heemer

Supt of Schools, Snowball Steve Richards, Pat Thurman and Ben Wortham

SOE-Debbie Ricks,Chris Chamblass's wife, Stephanie Thomas

Clerk of Court-Wayne Spivey

Sheriff- Gary Newman and Mike Taylor

I think I got everyone. 

Unfortunately I arrived at the BBQ after most of the speakers had given their spiels.  I had hoped to hear Mr. Catchpole and Mr. Heemer.  For the first time I am considering voting for independent candidates.  I hope that there will be more outlets for independents to get their messages before the voters.  If not, the independents will have to create outlets for their voices to be heard.  This is especially true for Mr. Heemer, because as a write-in he needs to have a huge amount of name recognition to have any chance of winning, and the simplest tactic for Mr. Bradley ( and Republican forums, or any other interests) to defeat him is to ignore him and deny him places to speak. 

I got to hear Mr. Newman and Mr. Taylor.  I like Gary Newman, perhaps it is just because he is the underdog.  He does not have the contributions of his opponents, the advantage of the incumbant, or the endoresements of Taylor.  If I could offer him advice, I would suggest he talk more about what he would do as sheriff rather than what he has done, and he needs to do whatever he has to take his plans to the voters.  Right now he is looking like an "also-ran" who will probably split the anti-Beseler vote and return the incumbant to office.  MCS is a good outlet to get the word out, because it is viewed by a large number of voters, but previously "Braveheart" has gotten slammed by other members.  I feel this is a little exclusive, but on the other hand, if you can't defend your  position on-line how can you win an election?  

Mr. Smith does seem like a pretty sharp customer, my feeling was that this was someone who completely believed in what he was saying.   That is the type of speaker that can be very persuasive.  I was previously wary of CTLAC because I am a Republican and adhere to the general rule that any group that is not distinctly Republican is a surrogate for the Democrats.  However, I support them on most of their amendment proposals, so I'm starting to come around. I'll probably send them a donation when I can save a few bucks, and I've become so immersed in the lawsuit issue that I might have to start attending CTLAC meetings, which I believe are the first wednesday of the month at the Fleming Island library. 

Thank you for the response.  I was just wondering if we could measure how much word from the site was carried out.  I had not heard of the Duke functions before and I have lived here awhile.

I really appreciate everyone sharing their points of view with those of us who were unable to attend.  

Felix;

I'm glad you were able to get there. Thanks for wanting to hear what I had to say. You are correct about the Republicans controlling who gets to speak, but it is their show at their forums.

They are held to promote their candidates and that is as it should be. The DEMs have the same type of committees etc as the REPs do. The problem is they are not very active (I'm beginning to think they may be comatose) because they seldom if ever have any DEMs running.

If it were me as a DEM party leader I'd hold forums for anyone that wasn't a REP just to get the word out that there is someone besides a REP running and throw my support their way if for no other reason than to hope to keep a REP out of office.

After the Primaries I think there will be more 'forum' type meetings where all the candidates get to speak and/or debate. But again, the issue is that many of the non-partisan groups aren't prepared for this because it seems to be something new to have to vote for BCC members in November.

They haven't quite shifted their paradigm yet. Hopefully that will happen and we who are not REPs or not running as REPs get to speak our piece in public settings. Heck, maybe even the DEMs will wake up and realize that they may not be able to vote for a DEM but they can vote against a REP.

From what I've seen and heard they'll get a lot more response from those running against the REPs than they ever did from the REPs. Speaking for myself I don't have any party line to follow. I just want to know what the citizens want and how best can I support them. I don't have to check to see what party they are from before I decide how much effort I should put into their issues. It is my opinion the others would operate in the same manner.

Mike Heemer

I got to meet JDW08 and Steven, and saw Finder Mike and Fred, but somehow I missed meeting you, and you were one of the people I wanted to meet!

I agree, and wish there were more 'open' forums. It would do us all good to hear points of view from every candidate in every race. Then voters could truly make an informed decision. If only we could get more voters to attend the various debates and forums that are out there.

BTW, just for clarification, it is Chambless, not Chambliss or Chamblass. Chris used to say when we were dating that he was 'bless'd'- ha ha!

-KChambless

Don't give up critical analysis for wishful thinking. -Joey Skaggs

So sorry for the spelling faux paux.  I was going completely off memory.  Let me say I am also a sorry putz for not making the connection between the blogs and (Mrs)Candidate. Dagumit I would have loved to meet you too!  I was right beside Fred when he was speaking.  I kept looking at you wondering if your poor feet were getting tired because you stood there for sooooooooo long before you got the chance to speak. 

By the time the speeches were over, I'd had enough of the heat.  Bless Ronnie Coleman for having the supreme intelligence to use a paper fan for advertising or I would have wilted like a cut gardenia. 

Fred Catchpole Office 904-771-6852 Cell 904-708-5541

I like your probing questions and the way you simplify a complex issue.  I think you should be on the panel of questioners should we ever have a forum where light weight questions are not asked.

Felix perhaps you should go and ask each candidate if they support individual rights.  Further, you may want to ask them if they are willing to donate for the cause of liberty.  You can accept cash, or money order.  I never advise to accept checks from politician.  The first airline I started I was asked to fly 180 Congressmen to a BBQ that  the Speaker of the House was having in Texas.  They each paid me with a check drawn on the House Bank they had at that time.  All checks bounced.  But do not worry a lobbyist showed up at my office with a cashiers check for $85,000 and collected all the bounced checks from me.

That is a true story, as they say do not accept wooden nickles, well never accept  a check from a Politician.  If you do just call his special interest and they will make it good.

Fred Catchpole