I know the News and Observer has had some kind of obsession with former Governor Mike Easley but today’s front-page story is really a stretch.

Easley was a member of the Old Chatham Golf Club in Chatham County, apparently getting his membership fees waived. While that’s nice to know and may have been worthy of a story, the latest story about the club getting water for irrigation during the drought of 2002 is a non-story as far as I’m concerned. The crux of the issue is right here:

Frantz, who did not return numerous phone messages, routed the request to the Chatham County commissioners, who unanimously agreed June 3 to let the club pump as much as 450,000 gallons a day for irrigation for up to three months. The water would be counted against the county’s daily allocation from Jordan Lake. State law considers pumping more than 100,000 gallons a day to be a major withdrawal.

The county was not drawing all the 4 million gallons per day it was allowed; there was no debate among commissioners about the request, according to minutes of the commisers’ [sic] meeting County Manager Charlie Horne.

See that? Chatham County wasn’t using its 4 million gallon allocation and the the Chatham County Commissioners unanimously agreed to let the club pump the water. It was Chatham County’s water and the state didn’t have a problem with Chatham spending it as it saw fit. The state’s “getting involved,” as the N&O alleges, amounted to the state shrugging its shoulders, and rightfully so.

The Governor can order state agencies to reduce water use but he or she does not have the power to order private businesses or individuals to conserve. It’s ludicrous for the N&O to suggest otherwise.

I’ll be happy when the N&O catches up to 2009 and starts covering the issues we face today. Then again, my faith in the so-called “Old Reliable” has pretty much run out.