Sharpen your pitchforks and head for the barricades!

Greetings, fellow citizens:

Sharpen your pitchforks and head for the barricades! At 10 a.m. on Monday, February 15th, - tomorrow - the NC General Assembly will be seeking public comments as a precursor to redrawing NC's congressional districts. This assumes, of course, that US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts does not issue a stay.

http://www.wral.com/lawmakers-to-hold-hearings-in-advance-of-redistricting-session/15358560/#1

"Top leaders at the General Assembly are getting ready to redraw the state's congressional districts next week, even though they are hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will save them the trouble.

"House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger appointed a committee Friday to hold hearings across the state on Monday. The committee will meet on Tuesday to consider that feedback and how it will apply to a federal court order issued last week."

The death of US Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia does little to change the outcome, contrary to popular reports. As the "Circuit Justice" for the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has the option to rule on this issue by himself, and that is probably what he will do.

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All public hearings will take place at 10 a.m., Monday, February 15th.

There will be a couple of options for submitting public comments:

1) You may submit them in writing at the the General Assembly web site: http://ncleg.net/gascripts/DocumentSites/browseDocSite.asp?nID=292; (public comments have not been enabled yet, so bookmark the address and keep checking).

2) Oral comments can be submitted at a series of public hearings, which will be conducted at satellite locations across NC.

The following locations will host public hearings:

Legislative Office Building

Room 643

300 North Salisbury Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27603

Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Raleigh.aspx

Guilford Technical Community College
Jamestown Campus

Medlin Campus Center

The Guilford Room, Room 360

Jamestown, North Carolina 27282

Link to campus map: https://www.gtcc.edu/media/10954/jamestowncampusmap.pdf

Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Jamestown.aspx

Central Piedmont Community College
CPCC Central Campus

The Hall Building

Room 310

1112 Charlottetown Avenue

Charlotte, North Carolina 28235

Link to campus map: https://www.cpcc.edu/campuses/central/images/central_map

Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Charlotte.aspx

Fayetteville Technical Community College

Room 142

Health Tech Ed Building

2201 Hull Road

Fayetteville, North Carolina 28303

Link to campus map: http://www.faytechcc.edu/campus-maps/main-campus/

Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Fayetteville.aspx

Cape Fear Community College

North Campus

Room 338

The McKeithan Center

4500 Blue Clay Road

Wilmington, North Carolina 28401

Link to campus map: http://cfcc.edu/maps-directions/north-campus-map/

Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Wilmington.aspx

UNC Asheville

Robinson Hall

129 Steelcase Teleconference Center

Asheville, North Carolina

Link to campus map: https://maps.unca.edu/

Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Asheville.aspx

Halifax Community College

Dr. Phillip W. Taylor Complex

Room 108

100 College Drive

Weldon, NC 27890

Link to campus map: http://www.halifaxcc.edu/CampDir/index.htm

Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Weldon.aspx

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"All public hearings will start at 10:00 a.m. If the campus is closed due to inclement weather, the hearing will be canceled at that location and participants may submit their comments in writing.

"All interested members of the public will have an opportunity to speak for five minutes. Written comments will also be accepted by email and on the General Assembly website, which will be available soon at: www.ncleg.net/redistricting."

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The following story from Facing South should get you in the proper mood for speaking truth to power:

http://www.southernstudies.org/2016/02/big-moneys-map-mischief-in-north-carolina.html

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All of this information has been posted to our blog:

http://makeitcountnc.blogspot.com/2016/02/grab-your-verbal-pitchfork-and-head-for.html

Any further updates will be posted there.

You can also follow the discussion on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/MakeItCountNC/posts/515251395329573

As always, thank you for reading!

-Kevin at Make It Count