No Tax Increase!!!

Thursday night the County Commissioners gave us the good news. Even with the State of North Carolina legislature failing to use the $1 Billion surplus to fix the Medicaid crisis, Bertie County will not raise taxes. While the State is raising taxes, repealing the end of temporarty taxes they promised would sunset, and seeking ways to spend the budge surplus for anything but giving Medicaid relief, Bertie County continues to exercise fiscal restraint. (For those who are not aware, North Carolina is the only state in the nation to make counties pay for a portion of Medicaid!)

This is, I believe, six years in a row that Bertie County Commissioners have dilligently managed our finances and fought against tax increases. Even when the state mandated re-valuation was done a couple of years ago, only a few county property owners saw their taxes go up. At that time the rate was reduced so that it actually resulted in a small net decrease in overall taxes for a short while. Even so, some individual property values increased enough that a few owners tax bill went up despite the rate decrease.

In reading the pattern of our county's recent budget statements, you have to acknowledge that Bertie County (including both the Commissioners and the county staff, starting with County Manager Zee Lamb) are doing a very good job in being frugal with our tax dollars.

Thank you to Norman Cherry, Rick Harrell, L.C. Hoggard, Wallace Perry and Charles Smith.

Rotary Blood Drive Exceeds Goal

Today's Rotary Sponsored Red Cross Blood Drive was an outstanding success. Previous local drives have produced 25 to 30 pints. Everyone was a little nervous when the goal for today was set at 50 pints. However with lots of hard work, today's drive exceeded even that, as the people of Windsor and Bertie County responded with 55 pints of blood.

Ned Heckstall, Rotary President, and Hosea Wilson, Blood Drive Program Director, were very impressed and thankful to all who participated. The site for the drive was the Community Center (shown below).





Holland Cayton and Richard Whiteley (shown below) were greeting and signing in the volunteers as the blood drive started.





From the moment the doors opened it was clear that things were going well. Within moments there was a crowd of people waiting to give blood.





The Red Cross sent a great group of people. Pictured below are three of their dedicated workers.




Teresa Tripp



John Aldridge



Joyce Atkinson





Hosea Wilson, Bertie County Tax Manager, was not just program director for the blood drive, he was one of the first to give blood (shown above).




Shannon Smith (shown above) of Dr. Attkisson's Dental Office was one of the many people who gave blood to help out. The Rotary Club thanks all of you for coming out and helping make this such a great success.




As at all blood drives, cookies and orange juice were there for everyone. In addtion eveyone got a T-Shirt, a chance at winning a Jeep and a sticker saying, "Hug me, I gave blood!"

It was a great day.

Windsor Supports Landfill Expansion

by Thadd White - June 18th, 2007 - Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

WINDSOR - Changes in the regional landfill were endorsed by the Town of Windsor last week.

In the regular meeting of the Windsor Board of Commissioners, the group unanimously gave their support to changes that will be requested by East Carolina Environmental.

According to Mayor Bob Spivey, East Carolina Environmental has asked the towns in Bertie County to give them their endorsement before going to the Bertie County Commissioners.

This is an issue that creates a lot of passion among opponents. Landfills are never popular to the people who live near them. Dust, ugly views and smells are regular problems. Trucks tearing up the roads near the landfill are constant problems. The problems cannot be elminated and even mitigation is often overlooked.

Like all modern societies some process must be found to handle waste. Just like a living human being, a living society, creates waste. It cannot be ignored. It must be dealt with. Because of NIMBY, many local governments refuse to deal with the problem. That creates the opportunity for others to profit from dealing with the problem.

I am glad that our community leaders are tackling this issue intelligently. We can use the money for many things that our community needs. The one caution I can recommend is that our leaders not forget to use some of the money to mitigate the problems a waste facility generates. Sights, smells, dust and torn up roads should not be inflicted on those who live near the landfill any more than is absolutely necessary. Mitigation is deserved.

A Sweet Remark - by Bob Fringer

This story was posted a couple of years ago, but it is a great story for father's day, especially if you are a grandfather.



Bob Fringer - October 11, 2003


Last spring my daughter, Cathy, her husband, Chris, and their three children, Erin, Rachel and Jessie, came down to Colerain for a short visit.

Usually when the grandchildren are visiting I’ll take them fishing somewhere nearby. This year I took them down to Saunders Pond, a beautiful body of water, located in the woods behind our house. Saunders Pond is kind of special because there is a small cabin, which sits on the shoreline, and has a back porch that extends out over the water. It’s a nice place for children to fish. Usually, the bream (sunfish or blue gills) are cooperative and provide fun for all.

Equipped with a bucket of crickets and a handful of long slender fishing poles, we drove down to the pond. Shortly after we walked out on to the cabin’s back porch I noticed the telltale movement of a water moccasin as it swam across the pond toward the cabin. I didn’t want the snake to come over to our side of the pond because of worry about my grandchildren, even though the porch was three feet above the water.

Apparently, the snake didn’t particularly didn’t care what I wanted because he kept swimming toward us. When he swam close enough, I hit him on the head with the tip of a fishing pole. He recoiled from the impact but kept coming. I hit him again but he kept swimming and finally went under the porch. I was worried until a few minutes later I saw him swim along the shoreline.

We went back to our business of catching fish after that minor distraction. I baited all the hooks with crickets and the grandchildren took control of the fishing poles. Soon, a number of carpenter bees began to buzz around our heads. These large insects fly around like a helicopter or large cargo plane. They don’t sting but can be a real pain as they buzz around your head. They bore holes in old wood and lay their eggs in the wood tunnels. Apparently, the back porch serves as one giant condominium to those big bugs. I began to swat them with my cap when they came close enough to hit. I managed to knock a few into the water but really didn’t put much of a dent in the population.

Soon afterward, Rachel remarked that ”Grandpa is the bravest man in the whole wide world. He hit that snake and was swatting those big bugs with his cap.” I chuckled. You know, it’s not every day that your grandchildren think you’re the “Bravest man in the whole wide world.”

Is there anything better than being a Grandpa?

Windsor Rotary Sponsors Red Cross Blood Drive

Ned Heckstall, President of the Windsor Rotary, introduced today's speaker, who was giving an update on the Blood Drive that the Windsor Rotary is sponsoring.



Hosea Wilson, Bertie County Tax Administrator (shown below), is one of our Rotary Members and Hosea provided the update.

The blood drive is schduled for next Thursday, June 21st from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

This is very important for our area. The safe blood that is provided by the Red Cross will be saving lives of Bertie County people, our friends and neighbors!





You should be seeing the Blood Drive Posters all over town. They announce the location as the Community Building on Queen Street, across from the Board of Elections building.




You will get an American Red Cross T-Shirt and a chance to win a 2007 Jeep Patriot. It only takes a few moments and it is well worth it.



Please plan to be there and donate blood for all the important people's lives it will save. It could be someone you love.

Bal Gra Harbor Is Coming

At Monday's Bertie County Commissioner's meeting Bal Gra Harbor's latest design was presented by Bob Koontz of Land Design, architect for Forest City Enterprises and the project manager Flannelly Development that is promoting the new facility for the owner, ALF – FCLG Bal Gra Harbor LLC.

Land Design has done a major redesign of the proposed development based on revisions in the county's subdivision ordinance that now allows Planned Unit Developments. PUD is a concept that allows for more concentrated development in some areas with land set asides to compensate.




Land Design had a new design book they passed around with details of the proposal (shown above).

Some of the highlights of the new plan are:

- Not a gated community but open to the public

- Three villages within the complex, Beach Village, Harbor Village and Salmon Creek Village

- Main entrance will be a spectacular country drive bordered by thick pine forests that hide the development

- All parts of the development will be designed to keep cars away from what will otherwise be focused on a pedestrian friendly community with miles of hiking and biking trails

- 400 acres of wetlands will be preserved in its natural state

- 200 acres of upland terrain will be preserved in its natural state

- Everything will be designed to get as many people as possible access to the magnificent water aspects of the site

- An amphitheater will be created beside the harbor to alllow music and plays here in the county with water as the backdrop


You can click on the title to the article above to see the old design (at this date anyway, I am sure the Bal Gra Harbor web site will be updated with the new design soon).

You can click on the thumbnails below to see a couple of the key pages in the book on the new plan provided by Land Design.

BCAC Open House For Artists Of The Month

There was an open house tonight for June's featured artists, Katherine Allen, painter and Janice Miller, potter (shown below with some of her beautiful pottery).





Katherine Allen had some spectacular paintings on display, and this was one of the best (shown below).




As usual there was a great crowd of people who enjoyed the art and the great food that is always available at these BCAC events.





For more information about the next open house or other BCAC events and projects, call 794-9402 or email bertiearts@earthlink.net

Book Signing In Colerain At Perry-Wynns Fish Company

Today there was a book signing at Perry-Wynns Fish Company in Colerain, North Carolina. Perry-Wynns was for decades, the largest freshwater herring fishery in the world, packing both herring and herring roe under the Tidewater Brand, the Bertie Brand and Chowan's Best.




The book is about this local industry that has long fascinated Eastern North Carolina. Herring Fishermen written by Frank Stephenson, Jr. tells the stories of the men who made Herring Fishing their livelihood. With their dip nets, pound nets, haul seines and juniper boats, residents of Eastern North Carolina waited for the river herring to come home in March, April and May to where they had been spawned. They waited for the muddy rivers, creeks, branches and small streams to flash white and silver.




In the past, millions of herring would swim up Eastern North Carolina's rivers and creeks from the Atlantic Ocean to spawn each spring. Herring fishermen at dozens of fisheries throughout the region pulled nets teeming with herring from the waters, and their catches provided food for residents and a product that was shipped nationwide and as far away as Europe.





Recent decades have seen a dramatic drop in the returning herring population, due in large part to the effects of pollution and excessive trawling by foreign fleets. In an effort to save the fish, a statewide ban on river herring fishing was recently instituted. What was once a thriving industry is now on the brink of extinction, and a colorful chapter in North Carolina's history could be coming to a close.

As a boy, Frank Stephenson fished for herring with his father and fondly recalls helping catch, clean and salt the silvery fish. With this collection of striking photographs that span half a century of herring fisheries in Eastern North Carolina, Stephenson tells the captivating story of an industry and helps to preserve a way of life and culture for generations to come.




One of the local gentlemen whose picture is in the book is Norman Perry, Sr., shown above getting his copy of the book signed by Frank.

If you have any questions, you can contact Frank Stephenson, Jr. at Chowan College, (252) 398-6364.

Emma Johnson Joins Board Of Education

Last night the Board of Education moved at the first opportunity to fill the open seat created by Michael Bracy's departure.





Ms. Emma Johnson (shown above) was the person they chose to fill the position until the next election in November of 2008. Ms. Johnson is a native of Bertie County and long time resident of Aulander . . . . who spent her career in education as a teacher and librarian.

Ms. Johnson's biography was published earlier and can be linked here.

Shown below is the new school board. From the left, Gloria Lee, Al Parker, Emma Johnson, Rickey Freeman and Melinda Eure.





The Roanoke-Chowan News-Hearald coverage of the board change can be found here.

After seating the new member, the BOE continued with business to conduct a full meeting. The most important issue being addressed is attacking the long term damage to the high school caused by the intentional abandonment of maintenance adopted by a former Superintendent and using QZAB funds to do it before it is too late. These tax free bonds are the best way for Bertie County to do this work and the former administration almost lost us the money.

Architect Richard Andrews has been asked by the current board to move quickly to use the QZAB bond money the county is about to lose to fix the roof of Bertie County High School. Below are the architectural renderings of what the new sloped metal roof will look like.

Mr. Andrews is doing an excellent job helping us keep from losing the $2 mllion in QZAB bond funds by an extraordinary prompt response on behalf of the county. We lose the funds after December and the roofing project is a six month project. Any delay would have been disastrous.

Groundbreaking For New Social Services Building

The employees of the Department of Social Services came out in force today to see the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building out beside the Bertie County Hospital.




Misty Deanes, Clerk to the Board, was busy passing out the agenda for the day's event and guiding people to where the event would take place.




The crowd was finally gathered and the event started on time.




First speaker (below) was Chairman Rick Harrell, Bertie County Commissioners.




Next was Vice Chairman L.C. Hoggard, Bertie County Commissioners (shown below).




Because some small portion of the facility is funded by the state, Ann Mobley, our state representative spoke next (she appeared to have some trouble with the bright sun).




She was followed by state Senator Ed Jones.




One of the happiest people present was Director Morris Rascoe, Bertie County Social Services.




Richard Andrews, architect of the new building from DKW Architects spoke next.




Final dignatary for this day was Todd Walker of Ellis-Walker Builders, construction manager.




The large group of officials really got into the groud breaking spirit, and quite a bit of dirt was thrown up in the air as they did their duty.

Commissioners Hear Bal Gra Harbor Plans

Yesterday's County Commission meeting covered a number of agenda items as usual, but clearly the most exciting was presentation of the revised plans for Bal Gra Harbor, the new development proposed across Salmon Creek from Innsbrook. It is one more sign that the East side of our peninsula county is about to undergo a huge transition to upper class homes and developments.




Our Commissioners, Norman Cherry, L.C. Hoggard, Rick Harrell, Charles Smith and Wallace Perry, opened the meeting with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.




First Speaker during the public comments section was Elizabeth Hassell, who talked about problems with response times during a recent medical emergency her family experienced. She asked for some changes that would assure others did not have the same experience.




The Commissoners then heard from Ann Mobley, recently elected to replace Representative Howard Hunter. She wanted to offer her assistance to the Commission and any of her constituents who needed her.




Tom Asbell, Mayor of Powellsville, talked about plans for use of the C.G. White school when it is closed. He asked that the county accept the school facility from the BOE, as has been offered. He proposed some expanded alternatives for use of the facility that would serve all the people of Powellsville as well as the entire county. He talked about seeking grants that would help to fund the process and help our county.

After some discussion, the commissioners voted to authorize Zee Lamb and the County Attorney to start the process of accepting C.G. White from the BOE and to work with Mayor Asbell to start looking at alternatives of how best to use the facility for the county's future.




The next presentation was the Bal Gra Harbor presentation from Bob Koontz, architect for the development group that is proposing the new facility. We will shortly have an article on the proposal, but some of the highlights are:

- Not a gated community but open to the public
- Three villages within the complex, Beach Village, Harbor Village and Salmon Creek Village
- Main entrance will be a spectacular country drive bordered by thick pine forests that hide the development
- All parts of the development will be designed to keep cars away from what will otherwise be focused on a pedistrian friendly community with miles of hiking and biking trails.
- 400 acres of wetlands will be preserved in its natural state
- 200 acres of upland terrain will be preserved in its natural state
- Everything will be designed to get as many people as possible access to the magnificent water aspects of the site
- An amphitheater will be created beside the harbor to alllow music and plays here in the county with water as the backdrop




Next speaker was Rickey Freeman, Director of Bertie County EMS, to talk about plans to improve EMS services within the County. In his comments he addressed concerns raised by the first speaker about some problems that have been encountered.





Finally, County Manager Zee Lamb provides details on some of the Commissioners options for the 2007-2008 Budget and plans for the public hearing on the budget (Misty Deanes, Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners is shown on the right).

School Board Decision Awaits

by Thadd White - June 1st, 2007 - Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

Three citizens made their case to join the Bertie County Board of Education here yesterday (Friday) morning.

Seaton P. Fairless Jr., Cordia M. Hall and Emma H. Johnson each took their turn to discuss why they would like to be chosen to replace Mike Bracy on the board.

As most readers are aware, I have already endorsed candidate Emma Johnson. This is a good article and gives a really balanced review of the statements made by the candidates and the answers they gave to the questions asked. However I think some background and history is important.

Seaton Fairless was a part of a board that actively tried to close community Elementary Schools. He did not just respond to what the Justice Department wanted, but took actions that clearly indicated the board of that time welcomed closing the schools, even though the claimed DOJ basis was fraudulent. In any consideration of his candidacy that history cannot be ignored.

I have no clear picture of Cordia Hall's candidacy. The one public statement I heard her make indicated she welcomed moving some of the waste of the Bertie County school central office into the classrooms to help our kids, and yet she also spoke in favor of keeping the controversial former Superintendent who publicly fought and ridiculed all such actions. This seems inconsistent to me.

Emma Johnson worked hard to keep the local schools open, and all of her public comments about actions to eliminate some of the waste in our current expenditures in order to help our children get a better education have left me with the belief she is the best candidate for the job. Even in the couple of areas where we disagree, I like the fact that she doesn't play games. She simply explained her opposition to my ideas and what hers were. No games. No equivocation. Polite but firm. Just like the excellent librarian she was for so many years.

I have never believed that we must all agree on how to fix the problems in our school systems. I do believe there is a clear difference between those who talk about our children but defend those who advocate the status quo of failure and those who are incensed at the ongoing failure to teach our children. Emma Johnson is incensed at the past failures and encouraged by actions that make sense taken by the new board. On those positive signs I hope Emma Johnson gets her chance to help our children improve their education and move on to become great Americans like others who were given the chance that education bestows.