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Who Will Represent Our Area?
May 7, 2012

Dear Editor,

I have known State Senate candidate Randy Ramsey for over 25 years. I was his shop foreman the first five years of Jarrett Bay Boatworks’ existence — back when it was still located on the actual Jarrett’s Bay in the downeast town of Williston. Both of us were young, just 25 years old and quite honestly building 50 foot-plus ocean going boats was a challenge.

But what made Jarrett Bay Boatworks a success was two traits Randy showed from the start: His ability to seek out and absorb knowledge from others and, even more importantly, his ability to make each individual in a diverse group of people want to be part of the project and work together as a team.

After five years, the crew went from four to seventeen people and that was too big for me so I bowed out to run my current, smaller, boat building business. A few years after that his employee count was around 40 and Randy decided to purchase the current Jarrett Bay property near Beaufort and not only move the business but start an entire industrial park.

I thought for sure this time he had truly lost it by biting off more than he could chew and he was in for a spectacular crash, but I was wrong. He again assembled a team on a much larger scale and Jarrett Bay Boatworks grew to be one of the most successful custom boat building companies on the East Coast. And soon the industrial park had a wide range of marine businesses operating there — multiple builders, machine and welding shops, canvas shops, engine distributors, a brokerage office, and the list goes on.

If Mr. Ramsey wins the state senate seat he will again have his abilities challenged but I’m convinced he is uniquely qualified to understand how environmental and industrial regulations affect business development and knows some regulations are needed to protect the heritage of Eastern Carolina while others are just unnecessarily burdensome.

He is experienced at how government and private industry can work together with positive outcomes. And what he doesn’t know he will learn…quickly. If you believe job growth and having a responsible and effective government are important, then I can assure you that Randy Ramsey is as fine of a candidate choice as we are likely to be offered.

Thank you,

Tom Hesselink
Owner, Budsin Wood Craft
Marshallberg, NC
5/7/12

To the Editor:

If you care about the welfare of our active military members and their families, then you’d better find a candidate other than Norm Sanderson to vote for. Sanderson took campaign contributions from payday lenders and then voted for a bill that allows those lenders to charge interest rates as high as 36% to those serving our country!

Base commanders and the Secretary of Defense asked our NC legislators not to pass the law because they knew that young, unsophisticated Soldiers and Marines would be easy targets for this type of predatory lender. The bill allowed those lenders to lend more money to each borrower and to charge higher interest rates to borrowers.

Pat McElraft and Jean Preston were smart enough to vote against the bill because they care about our military members. But Norm Sanderson was bought and paid for by his contributors in the payday lending business, so he voted for the bill.

I already voted for Randy Ramsey because I know he can be trusted to watch out for our active military members and their families. I urge you to vote for Randy, too.

Larry Harkey
Stacy, NC
5/1/12

Regrettably, politics has become ugly and I have tried to stay out of the fray. However, with the continued attacks against Randy Ramsey, I cannot stay silent any longer. Yes, I work for Randy Ramsey at Jarrett Bay Yacht Sales and I want to make that clear up front.

More importantly, I have known Randy since 1988 and I have watched him grow his business from a tin shed to a marine industrial park. Having been in the boating business most of my adult life, I have been a customer of Randy’s for a long time. I have had an excellent vantage point to watch Randy as a person and as a businessman.

Further, I have been on the Big Rock Board for over 20 years with Randy. The Board meets monthly and these meetings have provided another vantage point to observe Randy. Randy has served this Board with great distinction.

I feel that I have been around Randy enough to know who he is and what he represents. To call Randy a liberal democrat is the equivalent of calling Ken Humphrey a conservative Republican – it is just not so!

To say that Randy Ramsey does not care about Carteret County is equally preposterous. Randy has always cared about Carteret County and always will. Further, Randy has every reason to care about Craven and Pamlico counties as Randy’s business deeply involves both of these counties – not just Carteret County.

I am a conservative Republican as are most of my friends. Many of us voted for Beverly Perdue for no other reason than she was from New Bern and we felt that she would have a real interest in eastern North Carolina. If you are old enough, you are probably aware that Senator Marc Basnight was perhaps the most dominant political force in the state for years. Yes, outside of Dare County, Senator Basnight did a lot for all of Eastern North Carolina.

Yes, I work for Randy Ramsey. However, if I did not, I would still support Randy. You know why? Because Randy is a “doer” – he makes things happen and he gets things done. Randy has great vision for the future and I believe that his vision for Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico counties, would serve us well and that our district would prosper under Randy Ramsey’s leadership. That is why I am supporting Randy Ramsey.

Howard Basnight
Beaufort, NC
4/18/2012

This is the time of year when Major League baseball teams hold spring training, where they determine which of their players has the most talent and are ready to play with the Major League team.

This is also the time of year when we hold primary campaigns for public office. In the NC Senate District 2 campaign, there are three Republican candidates for office. One is clearly ready to play in the Major League, and the others are minor leaguers.

Randy Ramsey is a Major Leaguer. He built a company from scratch that employs over a hundred people here in Carteret County. He has contributed thousands of hours of his time to local charities and state-level organizations. In doing so, Randy has interacted and negotiated with many influential, successful and powerful people. They respect Randy because he is principled, honest and well-informed. They view Randy as a peer.

Norm Sanderson is a minor leaguer. As a state representative, he has failed his constituents. In what was probably the most important vote of his freshman term, Norm voted in favor of increasing ferry taxes on the very people who elected him. When asked why he did not participate in negotiations to try to get an exemption from the new tax for his district, as other representatives did, Norm said “I wasn’t allowed to be there.” So Sanderson stood idly by, accepting his role as a representative who has no power or influence.

If Randy Ramsey had been our representative, he would have broken down the door to be in the room to advocate for his constituents. And the leadership would have listened to Randy, because they know that he is a force to be reckoned with. That’s the difference between being a Major Leaguer and being a minor leaguer.

Ken Jones has only lived here since 2003 and cannot possibly understand the whole range of issues we face here the way a life-long resident like Randy does. For now, he needs more seasoning in the minor leagues.

The NC Senate is the Major League. These 50 senators have a huge influence on our lives here in North Carolina. Our District 2 Senator needs to be someone who carries enough weight with his peers to be able to effectively advocate for his constituents and protect their interests. Randy Ramsey is a Major Leaguer and will do just that.

Dan Reitz
Newport
2/27/12

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