There is more good than evil in this world, and when good men and women fight for what is right, evil will disappear into the darkness where it belongs.

If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize. -VOLTAIRE

François-Marie Arouet, known by his pen name Voltaire, is considered one of France’s most significant writers of the Age of Enlightenment.
Voltaire was a man of reason, a deist who loathed fanaticism, superstition, idolatry, and, most of all, the fact that men can kill each other to defend a religious doctrine they scarcely understand.


Voltaire strongly believed in freedom of speech and heavily criticized the heavy influence of religion in Government affairs.

Is this not what is happening now in our county, country, and throughout our world?

Let’s start with our country and the world and then Madison County because they are all similar. I will note that my own experiences have taught me the Republican Party may claim to use the Constitution as its mantra, but they are the first to abuse it and step on it when it comes to Freedom of Speech and the rights of its citizens.

Our military has been illegally parked against our constitution in areas throughout the world for decades. Syria, for example, we legally have no right to be there.

Ask yourselves how you would feel if Syria or Israel set up a military base in Michigan, no different than what our US Military is doing in Syria.

How much money do these defense contractors make when there is war? NATO is nothing more than a hub of corruption for these warmongers.

You are not allowed to call out the evil being unleashed by Israel, for they, according to them, are the chosen ones. Where is the Left? Why are they not calling out this genocide?

Because folks, these Zionists or the AIPAC lobby that has infiltrated our government pay our elected officials, Mainstream Media, and these fake fundamentalist mega-churches very well to spread their propaganda… They threaten any candidate for office who questions their heinous acts abroad. Quite frankly, the Jewish Lobby should be deemed unconstitutional.

Remember it will be your children who go to war not theirs …

Why did the press and the Deep State attack Tucker Carlson so vehemently over his trip to Russia to interview President Vladimir Putin?

Why do you, the peasants of society, have a right to question our phony failed Ukraine war? We, the so-called and invented Elite, tell you how to think, don’t you know that?

Congrats to Tucker for having the guts to do this interview and expose Congress, the American Military, Ukraine, the Biden Administration, and NATO for who they indeed are.

I encourage all of you to watch it in its entirety. You will learn about World History, something very poorly taught in academia. Putin schooled Tucker, and at times, Tucker reminded me of a petulant child sitting in time-out.

Tucker did one thing the American Press is incapable of: He told the truth and took the shots with dignity and stride.

The Truth was exposed: Putin is not on his deathbed, as the Mainstream media wish you to believe. Putin is healthy, strong, and totally in control of his country and this war. This war was started to secure what was always Russia’s Provence and has continued for the love of money and pure disregard for life by the United States and NATO.

Putin can recite history for hours, while Joe Biden can’t even form a sentence. Biden’s own Justice Department found him to be mentally impaired to the point of not prosecuting him because he was mentally unfit to stand trial. Yet there he sits in DC as an unelected pathetic example of a president, Priceless…

Below is a mini rendition by Greg Reese, who hit some of the high points…

Having an 81-year-old dementia patient pretending to be President has consequences.


Having incompetent leadership in our local government has its consequences, and boy, oh boy, do we have incompetence at work in Madison. See below County News Bombshell

We have a Property tax revaluation coming this year. Many of you will see a significant increase, which means your taxes are going up, yet others will not see an increase because Madison County has almost half a billion dollars in value being written off under the auspice of being considered farm property. Madison County’s biggest revenue comes from property taxes; remember this as you read further.

Because local governments can’t tax your income, they come for your property value instead.

Revenues from property taxes are a primary means by which local governments operate public services such as schools, libraries, waste management, police and fire departments, and infrastructure.

So folks, if you have a small county like ours with a 21,768-person population and the majority of property owners are on Tax Welfare, where do you think the county goes to get revenue to fund its projects?

You, the single-family resident, those of you under 5 acres, and the populace in Madison County who are honest and care about the county enough not to ride the wagon that the Madison Tax welfare cheats ride in…

See below the Madison County Agricultural Tax welfare…


This program was never designed for people to stay on it. This program was designed for FULL TIME farmers not tax cheats.
It was designed to be audited yearly to force people off the gravy train. But in Madison County, it has become just another form of welfare by those who should and could pay their fair share…

The tally of the numbers: Madison County has accumulated $502,365,176 in property tax deferments. That is half a billion dollars in lost taxable base. Wait till you see who is riding this cheating wagon, and many of them are the dung right out of the Madison County Republican party…

The big kicker is our County HAS NEVER AUDITED THIS PROGRAM. Chew on that, folks…

Now the rest of us honest taxpayers have a revaluation on the horizon. By law, North Carolina counties must reassess all the properties (revaluation) every eight years.

However, many counties have a shorter schedule, with counties with major urban areas revaluing properties on a four-year schedule.

Since when did Madison County become URBAN?

Madison County commissioners, along with Rod Honeycutt, have chosen to push Madison into a 4-year plan, claiming the state advised them to do this. Do you believe them? These commissioners and this County manager lie for sport. We have only had a 576-person increase in population since 2020.

How do you rectify this four-year revaluation when you never audited a program that has become infested with possible fraud? A program where its participants are not paying over $2,511,825 in tax revenues?

For all of you in Marshall, that is over two million five hundred thousand dollars. These commissioners and their toady county manager are pushing this 4-year revaluation because they need your property tax money to build more government in Madison.

To build a government to help these people who aren’t paying taxes like Jeremy Hensley, who is one of the Tax welfare recipients above. He and his good friend Alan Wyatt pushed to build more recreation for their friends while they were involved in the County cover-up to remove our ridge protections here in Madison County. Think about that, folks.

Remember what these bandits did with Court House grant money? Honeycutt took the money from the grant for the courthouse building and used it.

He claimed he was making the building OSHA-compliant. Folks, the courthouse is not OSHA-compliant, and that money could have been kept in a trust until it could have been used. The grant provider would have agreed to this. This is what happens when you have a person who is not qualified to be a County Manager. Not to mention five airheads who vote in unison.

Rod Honeycutt and the Madison County Tax administrator Diana Norton do not show up on the tax rolls in this county, so why should they care about what happens to the taxpayers?

Norton claims her husband pays taxes. Interestingly Norton still has not changed her married name at the State Board Of Elections. I used this to track down her residence to confirm if she was paying taxes. She voted in the 2022 election under her former married name.

Did Madison County Government mention to the state revenue cabinet when they agreed to this 4-year reval plan in our rural area that they violated state laws because they had never audited the Agricultural Present Use Value (PUV) Program?

I requested the PUV records and an assessment of the audits from Diana Norton- Madison County Tax assessor.

For the record, I have always liked Diana but have made no bones about the fact that I felt she was never qualified for this position. In fact, I told her this, so my hope was that she would prove me wrong.

After my request, she contacted me and said she would provide the records. She also stated that she had never audited because she did not have the staff. I told her she could make a statement about the reasons why she had never audited when she sent me the report.

Here is the email she sent me with the records:

Good Morning,

Here is the requested report. And I stand corrected there is some auditing taking place. When we transfer deeds and property is in the program they then have to make new application and provide income and or provide new forestry plans.

I can’t give you an actual number because there is no where in our system that keeps track of when we audit. I would have to go thru all the files to find these. There will be a audit on the whole program sometime this summer.

Thanks

Diana Norton

Here is my response to Diana, which she never responded to:

Diana

I read your statement several times. Out of courtesy, I am going to give you a chance to change it. I don’t believe your statement is factual or accurate.

Respectfully 

Since Diana is sticking with her statement, I will tell you what I think. To say you have audited according to the GS statute by just transferring a deed is precisely my point as to why this woman is not equipped to be the tax administrator.

To actually state she can’t even give a number because her system doesn’t keep a record of sales of deferred properties is feeble and pathetic on the merits.

What about that one-million-dollar software Lori Ray, Former Tax administrator, had the county commissioners buy to help her sit on her slothful hind end all day?

Norton whines she would have to go through all the files to find these deferments. Folks, this is precisely what her job requires. The audit is to be done EVERY year, not when you might sell a deferred piece of property.

This is why we need a competent tax administrator in Madison County, not someone from Madison County who would tread their way through the good old-boy system. We also need to pay them properly. I am not saying Diana needs to lose her job, but she needs to be demoted.

This is probably the most important job in Madison County, and it requires someone with the experience and fortitude to do it well.

Below is straight from the State…

By NCGS, the county must annually audit one-eighth of the parcels enrolled in present use value, so there is time (in theory, eight years) for a particular tract to fail qualification before its next audit. During the audit, the assessor will ask for revenue verification for agricultural and horticulture land or a sound management plan for forestland.

Norton and all those women before her never did this, and I think the reason is that they were covering for their family and friends. This is why Diana farmed out a portion of her job to an attorney firm that collects back taxes by charging the homeowner the full attorney fees.

This way, she and the commissioners can say it is out of their hands. The county doesn’t have to pay for this; that is how they spin it to the populace, but guess what?

Heck, I thought it was a good idea until I spoke to other counties, and they told me how these attorney firms jacked up the bills. Obviously, these other counties care more for their residents.

The Madison County Tax office is foreclosing on people in nursing homes in Madison County. They claim all the counties in NC do this. This is a lie straight out of the snake’s mouth.

Remember the story about Mr. Treadway, who was foreclosed on by Madison County and owes $1254.30 for the years 2020-2023. The attorneys’ fees were more than $7000.00, which is a 650% increase of the actual tax due.

I am not saying that people should get away with not paying their taxes, but adopt a process that doesn’t pad the pockets of the greedy attorneys involved. Someone tell me again what Donny Laws, county attorney for Madison County, does to make all that money we pay him?

Another qualification for enrollment is the land must be under sound management.

A sound management plan is defined as “[a] program of production designed to obtain the greatest net return from the land consistent with its conservation and long-term improvement.” Though “return” is not defined, the statute provides six safe harbors whereby if the landowner can demonstrate one of the following, the land is de facto under sound management:

  • Enrollment in and compliance with an agency-administered and approved farm management plan;
  • Compliance with a set of best management practices;
  • Compliance with a minimum gross income per acre test;
  • Evidence of net income from the farm operation;
  • Evidence that farming is the farm operator’s principal source of income;
  • Certification by a recognized agricultural or horticultural agency within the county that the land is operated under a sound management program.

For land to qualify for PUV enrollment in the hands of an individual, it must be that person’s place of residence, or, if not, the land must have been acquired by the individual or relative of the individual a full four (4) years before January 1 of the year the land is to be enrolled in PUV (regardless of the county’s listing period for enrollment). For land transferred to an individual by an entity (e.g., trust or LLC), the land must have been enrolled under the ownership of a qualified entity (the transferor), and the new individual owner (the transferee) must have been a member or owner of the transferring entity or a beneficiary of the transferring trust.

Qualifications for Farm Agriculture Use:

  • Agriculture 10 acres in actual production (actively engaged in the commercial production or growing of crops, plants, or animals)
  • Horticulture 5 acres in actual production (actively engaged in the commercial production or growing of fruits and vegetables or nursery and floral products)
  • Forestry 20 acres in actual production (actively engaged in the commercial growing of trees)

Below is what does not qualify…

  • Other forms of income, such as the following, do not qualify:
  • Rental income
  • Stud fees or boarding fees
  • Training or showing fees
  • Hunting leases
  • Sale of firewood, pine cones, pine straw, etc.
  • Fees for tractor work, baling, hauling, curing, drying,

Sound management for forestry requires a written plan which contains at least the following elements:

  1. A statement of the long-term and short-term objectives of the landowner
  2. A map or aerial photograph that delineates each stand referenced in the plan
  3. A detailed description or inventory of each stand, together with specific recommendations for each stand
  4. Dates and methods for interim harvest and regeneration
  5. Plan for regeneration for each stand after the final harvest

So, the minimum is 5 acres, and that is precisely what Norton has been telling individuals who contact her office. Let’s look at some of the freeloaders on this program who think they are special and think the rest of us should pay more taxes than they do.

Are there any commissioners or their relatives on this program? Bill Briggs’s rich brother Bruce has signed up not to pay his share of $147,715. Which means he is not paying $738.60 per year on his property.

Jeremy Hensley

Hensley has four properties filed on the Tax Welfare wagon. They come to a total of $187,889 which means he is not paying $939.45 per year.

But what is interesting is that Hensley has a property under the PIN of 9768-12-6900, which is only 3.77 acres he and his wife have filed under tax welfare.

This is what this Frontier technician fraud Hensley put on the Republican Party of Madison’s website in the last election.

My name is Jeremy Hensley and I am running for Madison County Commissioner. I am 44 years old.

I am a native and lifelong resident of Madison County, and a 1996 graduate of Madison High. I have been married to my wife Amanda for almost 21 years and we have 3 children, Chandler, Harrison, & Whitney.

We reside in the Beech Glen Community and attend Arrington Branch Baptist Church. I have been a Service Technician for Frontier Communications for over 16 years.
  I chose to run for this office because I have a deep burden for the future generations and I’m concerned about the direction this county is going.

I feel we need conservative common sense leadership at the local level to prevent the things that are happening in the democratic run cities from making their way to Madison County.

My job allows me to work throughout all communities of Madison County. This also allows me the unique opportunity to interact with many different community members, and recognize that ALL areas of our county need to be heard and recognized.

First and foremost I am a Christian. I am not a politician and I’m not going to make any campaign promises, but I do promise that I will not go against the scripture or the constitution.
One of the most important duties that a county commissioner has is controlling the budget and setting the annual tax rate. We need to spend our money wisely and hold department heads accountable on the money they receive.

I will always support our law enforcement and our first responders and will never vote in any way to defund the police. I will support the parents rights of this county and believe that the parents have the God-given right to make decisions for their children.

We also need to hire a good, qualified county manager. A county commissioner should never hold both offices of commissioner and county manager at the same time. If elected, I would also like to personally meet and talk to our county’s employees.

Talking to them and hearing their concerns on any issues they may have gives a commissioner a better understanding of what these employees face on a day to day basis. I think a commissioner can learn a lot from talking directly with these frontline employees, as well as Madison County’s residents, which will help in making better decisions for our county.

My hope would be, if elected, that I would be the peoples’ commissioner, the one that everyone would not be afraid to call if they have a need. I would appreciate your support this fall in the general election. WE THE PEOPLE are still in control.

Phone: 828-779-0224

Email: jeremyhensley@frontier.com

Jeremy Hensley

Can you believe this clown says he is not a politician? HA, he talks about not going outside the limits of scripture and the Constitution. I don’t believe he read either. He states that his duty “is controlling the budget and setting the annual tax rate. We need to spend our money wisely and hold department heads accountable on the money they receive. Hensley doesn’t pay his fair share of taxes; he is a tax freeloader.

He is not the Peoples Commissioner; he is in the Punk Weiner boy club, which consists of Alan Wyatt- Forrest Gillium -Jered Silver – Ryan Cody- Russell Blevins- Orville English, and all the planning Board members and more, who have devised a scheme to take over this county and remove all barriers in ordinances and laws that protect those of us who actually pay taxes.

This jester show of little men has banded together; to turn Madison County into their Redneck Riviera while they screw the real tax payers of this county…

The reason Hensley mentions the county manager holding office and county manager at the same time is that his boyfriend Ryan Cody wanted to be county manager. Ryan Cody is not qualified to be a County Manager; quite frankly, he wasn’t qualified to be a Zoning administrator.

Remember, it was Ryan Cody who reigned over Madison County as Zoning Director when the 2010 setback ordinance went into effect.

Cody allowed all these permits that were in violation to be issued during this time. He did this on purpose because he didn’t like the ordinance.

This is not an arrogance of a person; this is a punk. Cody is culpable for what is going on right now.

Ryan Cody has no regard for the law; he also shows up on the tax welfare. But hey, the evidence below shows up in Donnie Law’s billing records for 2021.

Eight hours @ $150.00 an hour to draw up a contract for Cody. He cost the taxpayers $1200 for this petulant fiasco.
Not his first time either. He has tried prior years before 2021 to hook the county manager position…

Don’t doubt me on what is going on here; read their own words and watch their actions. Their arrogance to believe only entrenched, inept locals or natives can control Madison County government is offensive.

This comes from people who don’t even pay their fair share of tax…

If you want to be a county commissioner, you should not be on this fraud of a program…

This boy club is covering up for each other. Don’t forget, a sitting county commissioner and former planning board member – Alan Wyatt, called all the planning board members and told them they had to vote to remove the setback ordinance prior to the vote.

This is a violation of state law.
Look at these planning board jewels below…

See below how little the Hensleys pay…


Jered Silver, the chair of the Madison County planning board, has five properties in the tax welfare program.

PINs -9717-60-8710 and 9706-51-0071 are less than 5 acres; they are listed at 4.81 and 4.8. Both of these properties show buildings on them. Are they being rented?

If so, this is a great little gig for the Sanford and Son bunch.


But there is more look at what the chairman of the planning board is doing in the documents below. He has a small piece of property, and he pays very little in value because he claims it is classified as a RESIDENTIAL VACANT lot.

How can it be residential vacant when there are five trailer hookups on it and a dumpster? The dumpster cost is more in taxes than the property.

I questioned Diana Norton about this; she thinks this is the same as a subdivision. You can’t make this up; idiots in this county surround us.

Why is Jered Silver showing up on Wolf Laurel staff? Talk about a conflict of interest on the ridgetop ordinance since it would heavily impact the vacant lots in that subdivision. See below:

More below

How do you feel about a guy who is the District manager of French Broad EMC, makes $256,000 a year, and has accumulated millions in compensation for his retirement freeloading off the Tax Welfare wagon?

Greg Fowler does not pay taxes on the $649,911 value of his property. He has been riding the gravy train with biscuit wheels at French Broad his whole life.

Why should we expect Greg Fowler to pay $3474.00 of revenue he owes when he figured out a way to scam the taxpayers in Madison County?



Connie Harris – Director of the dreaded Madison County DSS-freeloading on $1540.50 per year


Again, this was set up to help farmers, not freeloaders. These people are taking advantage of a broken, fraudulent system to profit, and then they go to church on Sunday. Do any of these tax cheats have any humility?

What would happen if the powers outside of Madison kick these bloodsuckers off this program?
They will be the first to whine for someone to come to their aid.

Who coached this weiner boy club and others on how to choose the path of riding the wagon while the rest of us pulled it for them?

Remember Russell Blevins, our area. Napolean held classes at his church, the Golden Calf of Mars Hill -Mars Hill Baptist Church, to instruct county residents on how they could screw the taxpayers of Madison County.

I would say that is why these planning board members chose to pay off Papa for his help. It is just an idea but it is worth discussing.

From the State Revenue Department

When a tract of land is disqualified, the owner of the property must pay what is known as a “rollback,” which amounts to the sum of three (3) years of unpaid deferred taxes plus interest on that differential for each year. The differential is measured between the tax paid (as calculated on the use value appraisal), and the tax payment that would have been made had the land not been enrolled in the program (the market value), plus three years of interest on each year through the current year (i.e. year 1 = 36 months interest; year 2 = 24 months interest; year 3 = 12 months interest).  The differential tax payments otherwise deferred before the 3-year look back are abated for all time.

Indeed, a landowner failing to report a loss of status voluntarily is subject to a penalty representing 10% of the total amount of the rollback (the deferred taxes plus interest), applied to each listing period the change goes unreported.


Over the last few weeks, the Madison County government has been blatant about not providing me with legal public records. This proves one thing they are caught in a quagmire of their own making.

The attorneys that we taxpayers overpay have been placed in the county government to react and run roughshod over anyone who dares to question their actions or county employees. These commissioners with soft skin can’t handle anyone’s effective use of their constitutional right of freedom of speech.

What does this say about the Madison County Government? It says we need a big change. I have researched and collected data that allowed the County to show its true colors by violating state and federal law and my rights.

Also, preventing you, the public, from seeing these public records they have harmed the public trust to protect employees, commissioners, developers, and Republican donors.

I can now put it in the hands of those who can rectify this ongoing situation. Let’s see how well they dance- CH

If you truly want change, a good start is Tony Ponder he won’t give up on you and won’t get in bed with this bunch in office who want to destroy your way of life.
Below are Tony Ponder’s comments to the commissioners and the planning board.
Ponder is a candidate on the Republican ticket for commissioner. I encourage all to vote if you can in the Republican Primary under commissioner and VOTE for 1 – TONY PONDER.

CH

Accepting Appropriation for Economic Development. (2-13-2024)

Tony Ponder


I’ve seen you commissioners accept grants without a second thought. This one may be different. I hope that it is. Evidently, your policy is not to look a gift horse in the mouth. There almost always is a back door to these grants.

I like to call it a trap door. With most of these grants, you use the money as you are told. Some specify that they send down someone to administer it for you. Evidently, they feel your staff is incompetent to handle this free money. And after watching your new planning czar perform, they could be correct. When the grant money runs out, guess
what? You hire that grant administrator sent in to administer the grant. You put him/her on the county payroll. That increases our tax burden.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a commissioner, not one time, ever question some of the organizations behind most of these grants. It seems that the left-wing socialists/communists provide almost all the grant money these nonprofits give away.

Do we know what their goals are, or do we? This gift horse, in my opinion, often becomes a Trojan horse. Also, accepting the conditions written in these do-as-you-’re-told grants is one sure way to increase taxes and grow government with unnecessary employees.


This is regarding the public comments at the commissioners’ 2-13-2024 meeting.


Since viewers could not see public comment participants, here is a copy of my remarks. I am pleased to relate a comment made by the speaker following me. He referred to a statement made at the Planning Board’s ridge top hearing, where it passed unanimously.

He was displeased that a speaker stated, “If I were commissioner, this ridge top development would be dead on arrival.” I’m proud to say I made that comment.

Commissioner meeting 2-13-2024 (public comment)


Chairman Wechtel, commissioners. I’m Tony Ponder. I know that being a commissioner is a tough job. We thank you for your service.
At a recent planning board meeting, the board voted unanimously to allow ridge-top development. Many in the audience were against it. They felt the board had decided on the issue prior to the meeting.

How do we get an 8-0 vote with so many against Ridgetop development? You commissioners select members to the planning board and other boards. I applied recently, and I’m still waiting for a call. I can accept not being selected.

We had a blogger (save madisoncounty.org) in the Spring Creek/Hot Springs area who applied. She is a relatively new resident with 24 years of planning and zoning experience. A statement was made that no one from the Hot Springs area had applied. A member from outside the
The Hot Springs area was appointed. She deserved better. Hot Springs and the county deserved better.
In my opinion, we should open these boards to all county residents. Not those who were appointed to push a narrow agenda.
We have a zoning ordinance that took years to put in place. They are there to protect all of us.
Something is wrong when the board of adjustment has to decide on variances that should never have come before it. What is wrong with your planning staff? It’s time for the county to put competent personnel in place. One that will follow our planning and
zoning ordinances.

I believe we’ve had enough of the good ole boy anything-goes
system.