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The 50th district of the N.C. Senate includes Jackson, Macon, Swain, a smidge Haywood (namely Bethel and Cruso), Clay, Graham, Cherokee and Transylvania.

State Sen. John Snow, D-Murphy, said if re-elected to District 50 he would work to tackle the tough economic times that are ahead of the state.

“Our economy is going to be a serious problem,” said Snow, who is seeking his third two-year term. “The governor has already said every agency will have to be cut back 2 percent to prepare for the next budget.”

Snow is facing Susan Pons, a Republican from Franklin, in the Nov. 4 election.

Snow, 62, described Pons as a “nice lady,” but said he has the experience necessary to help move the state forward.

“When you look at the qualifications and the hard work that has been done the past two terms, no one has worked harder,” said Snow, who served as a 30th Judicial District Court judge for 27 years before retiring in 2004. Snow is also a former assistant district attorney for the 30th Judicial District.

He said he was rated the most effective second-term senator by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research.

Snow said something needs to be done to reduce the number of high school dropouts.

He said the Legislature provided $7 million in 2007 to fund dropout prevention programs and said another $15 million was provided for dropout prevention programs in 2008.

Drug and alcohol abuse around the state also needs to be curbed, he said, adding more children are in the custody of the Department of Social Services than ever before.

He said at least 90 percent of the children in the custody of the agency are there because of drug and alcohol problems in their family.

He said that there have been “a lot of meth babies in this district.”

Improving mental health facilities to enhance the treatment of drug and alcohol problems is one way to attack the problem, he said.

He said he believes the state has “turned the corner” in fixing the mental health system.

He said $22.9 million has gone toward improving crisis centers that provide psychiatric care and $10.9 million toward staffing and improvements at state mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities.

Snow also said it is important that water and sewer infrastructure be improved so industry can locate here.

While in the Legislature Snow said much has been done to make Western North Carolina more attractive to business, including installing a “fiber loop” around the eight western counties to provide high-speed Internet.

In addition he said the Legislature has funded hooking up 70 public schools and community colleges in the area to the high-speed Internet.

The Internet access allows schools to engage in distance learning by tying in with Western Carolina University so students can obtain college credits while in high school, he noted.

Also on education, Snow said it is important that the state expand its vocational opportunities.

Snow said he supports a program that would allow high school students to take a “career certification” test before they graduate so they can be labeled with a “bronze, silver or gold certification” when they enter the workforce.

Such labeling would give the state a better understanding of the qualifications of its workforce and help to communicate to potential employers what workforce is available, he said.

Snow said he also favors looking into a bill that would put a moratorium on annexations.

He said sometimes people don’t want to be annexed, but that cites can annex them without their consent.

Cities need to be able annex so they will grow, but at the same time the people being annexed should be treated fairly, he said.

He said he supports studying the issue to find out how other states are handling annexations.

On healthcare, Snow said the Legislature recently budgeted money so more low-income children can receive health insurance.

He also said the Legislature provided increased tax deductions for small businesses that provide health insurance to their employees.

On immigration he said he favors legislation that would require employers to verify that they are not employing illegal aliens. He said the Legislature has already passed a law that makes it more difficult for illegal immigrants to get a driver’s license.

But overall on immigration, he said it is the federal government’s responsibility, and it should not be pushed back onto the local governments, or taxes will go up.

Other accomplishments Snow said he has made during his time in the Legislature are reducing the number of methamphetamine labs in the state by enacting laws that make it more difficult for people to get the drug’s ingredients.

In the past the ingredients to make the drug could be purchased at drug stores over the counter, but now the person must sign a piece of paper, present identification and can only get a certain amount, he said.

He said he also passed a law that requires that about 12 percent of the fuel purchased for school buses be bio-diesel, and said he is currently working on a bill that would provide subsidies to people who make bio-diesel.

Snow said his other accomplishments include reducing taxes, supporting teacher pay raises, capping the gas tax and toughening price gouging laws, and sponsoring Jessica’s Law legislation to protect children from Internet sexual predators.

(To comment on this story email josh@smokymountainnews.com)