The week consisted of events on more of a personal nature. There were only a few town hall events. It was a week of prayer for family members and a friend in addition to celebrating Christmas.

On Monday a tennis friend of mine had a massive coronary on the tennis court. His heart actually stopped and he had to be revived. Through power of prayer and the great action of his friends, the EMS, and the wonderful doctors at Rex, he will have a full recovery. To me, his recovery is nothing short of a miracle.

Monday evening I attended the ribbon cutting of Kidz Corner daycare on Lake Pine Drive in Cary. These were some great folks who are looking forward to a successful business that all started with their desire to provide something unique to the community. I had the good fortune to talk with them for a while and learned that most of them had an association with Cary Christian School. My kids are well past the age for daycare. But if they weren’t I would definitely consider this daycare.

Monday night my wife and I attended the annual Mayor’s Association Christmas Dinner. After the meal I was presented the virtual gavel by Mayor Williams of Garner and by that action became the President. I MC’d the ceremony with an award and the introduction of mayors who introduced those in attendance. It was a great night. The only downside was the absence of Mayor Jones of Wake Forest whose father passed away. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

On Wednesday my daughter had shoulder surgery. The surgery went fine but the pain medicine made her sick. This meant she went several hours after surgery without pain medication. I am happy to report that she is doing much better but still has weeks of recovery left. She even attempted to go to Christmas Eve services and lasted through most of it. God bless her!

Wednesday evening I was headed to an interview with a student when I was asked by WRAL for an interview about the “Community Tree”. They did a fair job in reporting it but did not put emphasis on the facts. Most of the media did this to try and create a controversy. Some were saying that we were trying to rename our Christmas trees to Community trees which is absolutely false. The Fox news actually made the most impressionable incorrect statements which really damaged the reputation of Cary. It is a shame that some of the media are more interested in generating news than reporting it. Unfortunately, Cary got more than a black eye from this.

Because of this media created controversy I received dozens and dozens of emails about this issue. Here is a canned response I created for those emails:

Unfortunately the media is misleading everyone. The fact is that these trees have always been named a “Community Tree” and “Tree” and were named these names long ago to become inclusive (this was not done by the current council). What is proposed, and incorrectly reported by the media to mislead the public to create a controversy, is that two council members want to rename the trees to Christmas trees. And as far as I know there is no council opposition. Unfortunately, our next meeting is on January 14^th which is when we can and will address this. At that time I suspect our trees will be named Christmas trees.

Thanks for contacting us.

Have a Very Merry Christmas!

What is really disappointing about this mess is the way my Christian brothers and sisters responded and lashed out at me and other members of council. Here are just a few of the names and phrases directed at me (some to the entire council):

“Atheist”, “Idiot”, “stupid”, “fool”, “coward”, “worthless”, “Godless”, “disrespectful”, “insensitive”, “psychotic”, “pathetic”, ” insane”, “you are ridiculous”, “no ounce of leadership”, “no shred of decency”, “liberal BSer”, “no backbone”, “Christians no longer welcome in Cary”, “shocked and dismayed”, “street level politician”, “you are sorry, there must be retribution”, “no common sense”, “get your heads out of you’re a**”, “you are a laughing stock”, “hyper-political”, “you have lost your minds”, “hope to vote you out”, “leave us Christians alone”, “stupid liberal idea”,…

I must say that I was shocked at some of the things people said to me especially on Christmas Eve. One email was making a statement about Christ and in the next sentence used a four letter word. Anyway, enough about this. I will be glad when we put this behind us.

Wednesday evening I was interviewed by a student from NC State. His interview focused on leadership qualities and advice. His hope is to, one day, be in a leadership role. We talked for a while and I gave him a private tour of town hall.

Well that is all for this week and this year. I plan to next post on Sunday, January 3^rd. Have a very Happy New Year and please feel free to leave a comment on my post.