The ballot for the Nov. 2 election will not include a line for a write-in candidate for the District 5 seat on the Moore County Board of Commissioners.

One write-in hopeful submitted a petition, but the Board of Elections staff was unable to certify all the signatures on the petition by the Aug. 4 deadline.

Tommy Davis, of Aberdeen, was interested in staging a write-in campaign against incumbent Commissioner Jimmy Melton. However, state election law no longer requires a write-in candidate line on the ballot unless the candidate supplies a petition signed by at least 100 supporters who can be certified by the Board of Elections.

Melton faces opposition in the election from Democrat William S. Garner, of Pinebluff. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary election in May.

The general election ballot must be ready in early August in order for ballots to be printed and machine coding completed by designated deadlines. Sept. 3 is the earliest date for registrants to request absentee ballots.

COBLE - Congressman Howard Coble has called on the U.S. trade representative to negotiate a fair trading relationship with South Korea.

Coble and Congressman John Spratt, co-chairmen of the Congressional Textile Caucus, have jointly signed a letter asking Ron Kirk to negotiate a fair trading relationship with South Korea.

In their letter, Coble, a Republican, and Spratt, a Democrat, tell Kirk that a proposed free trade agreement with Korea harms American textile producers.

"We believe the current agreement will place domestic producers at a distinct disadvantage by allowing a massive flow of highly technical industrial textiles from Korea into the United States with few opportunities for reciprocal export of U.S. Products to Korea," said Coble and Spratt in their letter.

HAGAN - Before visiting in Moore County Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan was in Fayetteville for the kickoff of the ninth annual Defense and Economic Development Trade Show.

Co-hosting the event were U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and Congressman Larry Kissell of the 8th District.

Hagan conducted one of her "Conversations with Kay" events at Fort Bragg before traveling to Sandhills Community College for a similar program.

LIONS - Lions International president Sid Scruggs, of Vass, was carrying out his official duties closer to home Monday.

The Woodlake resident and his wife, Judy, attended a luncheon meeting in Raleigh Monday and also toured RLCB Inc., a sewing plant that hires about 200 people to make items under a government contract. Most employees of the operation are visually impaired, a traditional mission of the Lions Club.

Scruggs was recently installed as president of the international service organization at the annual convention in Sydney, Australia.

A major part of his duties is traveling around the world to meet with Lions Clubs and to inspect programs sponsored by Lions. His calendar in coming weeks includes travels to Finland, Denmark, Sweden, India, Scotland, Japan, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ethiopia as well as San Francisco and Milwaukee.

Contact Florence Gilkeson at florence@thepilot.com.