🗣️ Hootin' and Hollerin'

👋 Good Morning, Apex! Today is Thursday, October 22, 2026 and this is the 94th weekly issue of The Peak Weekly.

I spend every possible free moment looking into the issues facing Apex to try to make sense of it, try to find solutions, and to - most importantly - drive attention to all of the amazing things going on.

My wife is always interested in what I have to say. And by always, I of course mean… periodically.

Sometimes she is very locked in and has all kinds of questions.

Other times, I’ll be talking for a bit and then I’ll hear her say… “What are you hootin’ and hollerin’ about again?”

I get it. Sometimes I don’t have a filter. I ramble at times. Nobody taught me how to do this. I’m just figuring it out every week and speaking to you from my heart. I don’t have to please advertisers or a boss which is why this can be a little raw sometimes. But that’s also what makes it real.

This is independent journalism!

Today is going to be one of those days. But let me just preface it with this: I truly believe in the things that I’m hootin about and hollerin about.

I’ve lived in Apex for about 5 years. And honestly, we maybe have 5 more left here. Get the kids through school and then go seek a new adventure. Or maybe things get better and we hang around longer. I don’t know yet.

But I do know that it would be a whole lot easier to just hang out for a bit. Let the trees get knocked down. Say it’s not my problem. Spend less time at this computer. I don’t get paid for this. I’m not seeking any job or elected position in Apex. I don’t particularly enjoy the hate mail from people who think the problem is me.

I just genuinely care.

If a data center were built here, it wouldn’t really affect me personally to be honest.

Nonetheless, I care. I care about Apex. The people of Apex. The wildlife of Apex. And I’m going to keeping fighting for Apex. One week at a time.

With that said. The following email - number 94 - has some fun events this week, some random pick-2 ideas, some important dates to put on your calendar… and yeah… some hootin’ and hollerin’.

Let’s start with data centers.

In 187 days from today, the Data Center Moratorium expires in Apex. Yep. We’re already halfway through it.

So… what happens on April 27 when the moratorium is done?

When Natelli Investments withdrew their data center application in March, GM Michael Natelli released a statement to WRAL TV and ABC11 WTVD saying:

"The company indicated it will determine an appropriate course of action if, in the future, the Town of Apex ultimately approves a comprehensive zoning text amendment allowing data centers as an approved use within the Town's limits"

The Town of Apex Government has spent the past several months doing exactly that.

By the time the Mahaffey Moratorium expires in April, Apex plans to have exactly what Natelli is asking for - comprehensive zoning text amendment allowing data centers as an approved use within the Town's limits.

This article takes about 15-20 minutes to read through. But I have about 100+ hours of research into it, so you can give me 15 minutes, right?

It’s important and worth the time, in my opinion:
https://thepeakway.com/apex-nc-data-center-moratorium/

Miscellaneous Info:

🏥 2.3 Million Children
The Duke Endowment is committing $100 million to help advance NC Children’s and expand specialized pediatric care for our 2.3 million children. Right here in Apex! The Mayor explains it here.

🍁 Leaf Collection
Heads up on the new rules in effect. Don’t bag your leaves or any yard waste. Just rake them to the curb during your assigned collection week. Sort the piles based on type. And place the piles at least 10 feet away from storm drains.

🎃 Pumpkin Collection
When it’s time to get rid of the pumpkins, do not put those on the curb. You can compost them, put them in your trash can, or drop them off at Public Works from Nov 1-8.

⛄️ New Hill Holiday Market
The 6th Annual New Hill Holiday Market is still accepting vendor applications. The market will take place on December 12 at the New Hill Community Center. Put it on your calendar now so you don’t forget to attend, and anyone interested in being a vendor can still apply here.

🌾 Scarecrow Row
Visit Apex Community Park's Scarecrow Row the week of Halloween (October 23-31) and check out all the community-decorated scarecrows! Bring a flashlight if you'd like to visit after dark – the park closes at 10 pm. 

🐕️ Spooky Tails
Celebrate the spooky season with your furry friends! Come with your pup(s) to visit vendors with treats, resources, and more. Learn about dog friendly parks in Apex and organized trail walks. October 28, 5-7pm at Apex Nature Park.

Things to Do This Weekend in Apex:

Thursday, October 22

🍫 Explore S’Mores
5:30pm - 7:30pm | Apex Nature Park

🐢 Creek Critter Discovery
6pm - 7pm | Apex Nature Park Amphitheater

🥸 Character Night
6pm - 8pm | Rudy’s Pub & Grill

Friday, October 23

🛍️ Mabopane Marketplace
7am - 12pm | Mabopane Foundation

🕺 Apex Community Dance
7pm - 9pm | The Halle

🎸 Live Music: Joe’s Cousin
8pm - 11pm | Peak of the Vine

Saturday, October 24

🧑‍🌾 Apex Farmers Market
8am - 12pm | The Depot

🏃‍♂️ Apex Half Marathon
8am | Sweetwater

🏃‍♀️ Run Club Apex
Meet at 9am | Foxtail Coffee

🛍️ Mabopane Marketplace
10am - 1pm | Mabopane Foundation

🟡⚈ ․̫ ⚈🟡 PokéFest
2pm - 5pm | Apex Senior Center

🧌 Goblin’s Groove Family Dance
5pm - 7pm | The Halle

🎤 Live Music: 2Digh4
7pm - 10pm | Oaklyn Springs Brewery

Sunday, October 25

🍂 Fall Fest
4:30pm - 8pm | Ambassador Presbyterian Church

Pick Two!

Pick two of the following activities. And then do them this week.

You have to. That’s the rules.

#1 Bella + Mauve Boutique
Bella + Mauve is a thoughtfully curated women's clothing and gift boutique located in downtown Apex. Here is Apex Citizen of the Year, Nancy Grace, modeling one of their Apex sweatshirts:

I did not ask for her permission to post this photo. But she tagged Mrs. Weekly in this post so I’m pretty sure I have to go buy this sweater for her tomorrow. Just getting my money’s worth. Call it even, @nancygrace.realtor ??

#2 - Haunted Carolina
Join paranormal investigator, podcaster, and author Nicolle Morock as she explores some of North Carolina’s lesser‑known haunted locations. Drawing on extensive research, firsthand experiences, and stories from both public sites and private homes, she'll adventure beyond the usual “top haunted” lists to highlight memorable places & encounters that leave a lasting impression on investigators and witnesses alike. Audience members can also share their own picks for the state’s spookiest places. This event is free to the public!

#3 - Apex Wings
Great wings. Obviously. But they have a HUGE menu of all kinds of things. It’s one of my favorite spots. I get the bone-in, all flats, Shearon Harris with blue cheese. Trust me.

#4 - Subscriber Submitted Idea
“Sultan’s Deli has delicious Mediterranean food. Sushi Iwa is a popular place for us to get good Asian eats. Not into sushi, but enjoy their other cuisine.”

#5 - Subscriber Submitted Idea
We have a pizza and cider at least once a week at the new Southern Peak Brewery in Sweetwater. We stop in weekly at Jean's Neighborhood Market just to see what they have, and we ALWAYS leave with a frozen pound cake made by Miss Becky who lives up the road. It is the best pound cake you will ever have in your life! We also make sure we visit DJ's Berry Patch and the Po House Farm for fresh veggies when they are in season. On Saturday mornings we stop by the Jordan Lake Flower Farm to pick up a weekly bouquet of their farm-grown flowers - we have a CSA subscription, but you can also do a U-Pick. We love the Salem Street Pub, Rudy's and Sabatino's for dinners, and Mustang Charlie's Diner (inside the Ford Dealership) for lunch. And Anna's Pizza too! 

#6 - The Provincial
Easily…EASILY… top 3 restaurant in Apex. The house smoked fish spread. The oysters. The chicken cutlet. The pork chop. The dang tuna tacos. You cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. It rotates a little bit, so they may not always have those exact things, but just point at the menu and whatever you land on will change your life. Mrs Weekly and I actually have a date there tonight 😅

Civic News:

🗓️ Peak Plan 2055 - Draft Recommendations
The final Peak Plan 2055 public forum is coming up on November 12 from 4pm-7pm. Policy recommendations, action plan and review drafts of the plan production will be shared on this day.

🗳️ Sample Ballots
If you want to view a sample ballot for the current election, you can find those here. As I recommended last week, make sure you only use official sources.

But some good news on that front. The Wake Voting website that Mahaffey has been operating for a while - the one that doesn’t disclose his ownership of it and shows altered voting ballots - has been fixed!

I have previously attempted to ask him to operate the website legally but since he continued to operate it in violation of North Carolina General Statute 163-165.2(b), I reached out to the Wake Board of Elections and it looks like they handled business. The website now has proper ownership disclosures and identifies the ballots as altered. Still, though, it tracks your data so be careful.

I’ve now officially fixed 2 of Terry’s websites. About 20 more to go but… it’s progress.

Side note: his wife, Lindsay, is now almost 3 months behind in filing her legally required campaign financial disclosures. She took several large donations from developers before abruptly quitting her position. We know she has transferred a few lump sums to another candidate that she now works for. But we don’t know where the rest of the money went.

I’m still trying to fix that one too, but the Mahaffey family is pretty organized so it’s taking a while for me to sort through all the various channels of deception. I’ll keep you posted.

👀 Public Record Watch
For the sake of transparency - and so that I can show you how hard I work to track down important information for the community - here’s my Public Record Request dashboard:

When I previously asked the Town Clerk why these requests take so long (he told Council that their internal goal is 10 business days), he told me: “Looking more broadly at our year-to-date data, 73% of completed requests were completed within 10 days, 86% within 20 days, and 91% within 30 days.”

Can anyone tell why almost all of my record requests land in that 9% that aren’t completed within 30 days? What’s so difficult about tracking down complaints about Miss Annie’s lot that we have all heard so much about?? Nobody has ever seen them, but apparently there’s a lot. 41 business days has produced nothing.

What about the Council Ethics Course Completions?

North Carolina Law § 160A‑87 says, “All members of governing boards of cities, counties, local boards of education, unified governments, sanitary districts, and consolidated city‑counties shall receive a minimum of two clock hours of ethics education within 12 months after initial election or appointment to the office and again within 12 months after each subsequent election or appointment to the office.”

Terry Mahaffey has publicly called me a political operative (which I’m not), the Town of Apex spent about $4,000 of your taxpayer money to fix his personal website when it leaked resident data, he’s lied about tree protection, he violates state statutes to collect your data from websites that pretend to be state-run, and so much more. That got me thinking. Has he taken the ethics courses that the law requires?

The same law, § 160A‑87, says “The clerk to the governing board shall maintain a record verifying receipt of the ethics education by each member of the governing board.”

Pretty straight-forward. Council takes ethics courses. The Town Clerk keeps record of them. But in 12 business days, the Town Clerk is unable to produce a single one.

When he emailed me about another topic on Tuesday at 7:14pm, I emailed him right back at 7:26pm to ask - again - for those certificates.

No response.

Oh but I did get one more update to another request:

That’s a continuation of a multi-month conversation between the Apex Police Chief and Town of Apex IT where the Chief keeps trying to find out about an apparent hack into one of the Flock cameras and not getting any clear answers.

I asked the Clerk’s office 6 days ago if Chief Johansen got a response to this question.

No response.

Town Manager Randy?? You there? You make about $300k per year to manage this stuff. The last time you responded to an email from me was May 26, 2025.

I’ve sent you many since then.

No responses to the data exposures that I’ve helped the Town solve, the ethics violations by a certain council member, the record request issues, the BerryDunn questions, the politically violent rhetoric by Mahaffey… but in 513 days you haven’t been able to hit the Reply button even once?

I’m not going away. This isn’t my job. I don’t have political aspirations. When Mahaffey runs for Senate and you move on to yet another Town and another increased salary, I’m still going to be here fighting for the people of Apex. Would love for you to join in, even if it’s just temporary.

Upcoming Meetings:

Thursday, October 22
Mayor in the Community: Casual Town Hall
6pm - 8pm | The Local

Thursday, October 22
Office Hours w/Councilmember Ed Gray
5pm - 7pm | Town Hall

Monday, October 26
Tree Canopy Subcommittee Meeting
4:30pm | Mason Street Municipal

Tuesday, October 27
Town Council Meeting
6pm | Town Hall

A Look Ahead:

October 30
Witches Night Out | Downtown Apex

October 30
Trunk or Treat | Peak City Church

November 19
Native American Tasting Experience | Senior Center

November 20
Jazz & Jive Night | Downtown Apex

In Case You Missed it:

🗳️ Early Voting
Early voting for the 2026 General Election runs through October 31. Monday-Friday 8am-7:30pm, Saturdays 8am-3pm, Sundays 1pm-6pm. The last day to vote will be Election Day, November 3. You can see all of the early voting sites here. You can find the wait time tracker here.

You can find your election day voting location, verify your voter status, and see a sample ballot here: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/

🍂 Biweekly Yard Waste Schedule
Apex has officially transitioned to a biweekly yard waste collection for all residents. Zone A’s biweekly collection started this week. Zone B’s biweekly collection starts next week.

💰️ FY28 Budget Priorities Survey
If you want to share your thoughts and priorities for the FY28 budget, you can take this budget priorities survey, speak at the pre-budget public hearing on January 13, 2027 or email [email protected].

🐕️ Pit Bull Appreciation
October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month and Pit Bull Appreciation Month. Wake County Animal Center is offering reduced adoption fees throughout October. Adult dogs can be adopted for just $25. Adoption Gallery

A Final Note:

Thank you for taking time out of your day today to read this week’s edition of The Peak Weekly. If you love it, please forward it to a friend. If you don’t love it, please unsubscribe.

And, as always, if you have any ideas of how to make this newsletter better, want to nominate a local business or organization to be featured, or anything else, please respond to this email or email me directly at [email protected]

See you next Thursday... 😘