Around these parts, a few ironic idiosyncrasies often irk even the most timid of Talkers.
How do you suppose, for instance, that almost the entire contingent of commuters who congregate and congest each morning on Interstate 77 between Cornelius and Huntersville managed to skip driver's education class on the very day when the discussion focused on the fast lane? (Just for clarification, that's the one on the far left designed for drivers desperate to reach distant destinations with no desire for sightseeing or exit ramps).
And how is it that the grocery store shopper with time to read the caloric content of every yogurt carton and juice box while blocking the aisle — as well as the free time for mobile phone chatting or texting in the check-out line oblivious to the frantic, fidgeting flock of customers behind them — is all too often the same one much too busy to properly place their empty shopping cart in the designated place in the parking lot?
These mysteries and more keep Talkers vigilantly on guard for the next example of the incongruent and irrational that makes people by far the planet's most puzzling patrons.
No gray area
Talkers toss out enough verbal barbs to know when they're the target of one. They just don't usually come from elected officials in open forum.
So they can't help but take it as a slight, albeit an amusing one, when, at Monday night's Huntersville Town Board meeting, Commissioner Ron Julian invited all to come out to Christmas in Huntersville. During the commissioners' report portion of the meeting, he said, "A Huntersville Christmas, we need to mention it, it is December 10, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., downtown Huntersville Christmas, sponsored by the Huntersville Herald and we do appreciate it, and many other sponsors and come and have fun and enjoy."
Just so readers don't think Talkers are taking this comment out of context, it comes word-for-word from the official recording of the meeting.
He was referring, of course, to the Lake Norman Herald Weekly —which is actually one of several sponsors of the event — a weekly publication that hasn't been known as the Huntersville Herald since 2004, when the original iteration of the newspaper expanded from a Huntersville-only concern into Cornelius. After becoming as reliable and comfortable as an old gray T-shirt, the newspaper's founder and publisher, Tucker Mitchell, sold the paper more than three years ago to the Carolina Weekly Newspaper Group.
Talkers think the slight clearly shows a bias for one particular sponsor. The title sponsor of Christmas in Huntersville is Priority Honda. It's also supported by sponsors CMC Huntersville, Discovery Place KIDS, Radio Disney, Tom Johnson Camping Center, Guignard Properties, ElectriCities, Brian's Dog House Grill, Huntersville Eye Care Center, Ballas Chiropractic, Presbyterian Hospital, Blue Harbor Bank, The Learning Experience, Terpsichore's Dance Centre and Marc Allen Orthodontics.
Oh yes. It's also sponsored by the Lake Norman Citizen.
