Wildlife Officers Explain Hunting Rules To Rotary

John Beardsley (below) and Rodney Jack (second picture below), Officers with North Carolina Wildlife, were speakers and guests at yesterday's Rotary meeting in Windsor.





In addition to giving a review of the basic rules of hunting and fishing, along with some common sense suggestions to remain safe, the speakers handed out the 2007-2008 Regulations Digest. It is a comprehensive manual describing license requirements, hunting and fishing seasons, regulations and reports about wildlife.




Above, Collins Cooper provides John Beardsley with the traditional cobalt blue coffee mug as a thank you.

QZAB Bonds Are Signed School Improvements To follow

Today we had a great moment in Bertie County. Thanks to a considerable effort by our County Commissioners, Board of Education, County Manager Zee Lamb, County Attorney Lloyd Smith, County Finance Director Lydia Hoggard, and our Interim Superintendent Dr. Michael Priddy, some of the failures to perform maintenance will be corrected so our children in High School will be able to enjoy a much improved facility.



Misty Deanes, Rick Harrell, Lydia Hoggard, Dr. Chip Zullinger, Rickey Freeman, (in rear) Lloyd Smith and Johnathan Huddleston

Nearly $2 million will be spent to improve the facility, primarily a new roof. The signing ceremony above is a milestone and only happened because of diligent work by a lot of people, but the people listed above deserve special mention. We also welcome Dr. Chip Zullinger to one of his first public functions since taking over the reins as Superintendent of our schools.

The most important aspect of this signing ceremony is the great deal the taxpayers of Bertie get with QZAB bonds. We get the school improvements we need and the taxpayers get reduced interest rates that save the county a huge amount of money.

Senator Fred Smith Visits Bertie County On BBQ Tour

Senator Fred Smith is currently one of the leading candidates for Governor for the State of North Carolina. In the last two weeks he has gained significant momentum, even getting recognized by one of the leading Democrat Party web sites, bluenc.com. BlueNC spoke of Fred's surge as being the first serious movement of any candidate since the announcements by the major players earlier in the year.

Some of that movement is attributable to the enthusiastic endorsement of Senator Smith by Lee Greenwood, a man some call America's number one patriot. Greenwood is famous for his song, God Bless the USA. Fred and Lee met through a family friend that was impressed with both men.





Senator Smith started his visit to Bertie County with an early morning press conference from hole 17 at the Innsbrook Golf Course, the signature hole of this Arnold Palmer Signature Course. His statement this day was about his plans for Creating Jobs in North Carolina and what a small business oriented Governor can do to dramatically improve the job climate here.

Innsbrook is nearing completion on the eastern edge of our county overlooking the beautiful Albemarle Sound and is bounded by Salmon Creek and Black Walnut Swamp. It is one of the truly beautiful places in this beautiful heart of the Inner Banks called Bertie County. The visual symbol for the idea of taking risks to succeed was made when Senator Smith (shown above) played the hole in front of those present. I have video (click here to see video) proving that he made par! Pretty good for this really tough, spectacular hole.





Next, Kay Byrum (above left) took Senator Smith on a tour of Hope House, home of former Governor of North Carolina, David Stone.




Johnny Pierce (above left) registers with Bill Fields for the BBQ at the Heritage Center at Historic Hope House. Johnny and Rachel from the Heritage House Restaurant provided the food for the event.




Chairman John Stallings (above) acted as master of ceremonies this day and started the event off with a welcome to everyone who came out for this Free BBQ for citizens of Bertie County.




Reverend Carroll Tarkington (above) gave the invocation and blessed the food.




Deidre Jersey (above), led all attendees in singing the national anthem.




During lunch there was an excellent discussion of education and the wishes of Bertie County citizens. Education is one of the key concerns of Senator Smith (in rear left) and he listens intently to input from some Bertie County residents, Tim Phelps (shown above on left), John Davis (shown above on right), Anita Davis (in rear center) and Cathy Mizelle (in rear right).




There was a large crowd present in the beautiful John Tyler room at the Roanoke-Chowan Heritage Center, a popular location for meetings in Bertie County.




Everyone enjoyed the meal provided by Johnny and Rachel from Heritage House Restaurant. The food was excellent. Joe Humphries, Rita Hoggard, Jim Hoggard, Collins Cooper and Gary Gardner are at the foreground table (shown above).




Senator Smith waits to start his keynote address towards the end of the event. Jim Hoggard, member of the Town Council from our largest town Windsor, introduced Senator Smith.




Before Senator Smith came up, a video was played that introduced people to Senator Smith's family including his wife, Ginny, and mother, Eudell, and which ended with the campaign song "Good To Great", written and performed by Lee Greenwood (double click arrow above to hear song).




Senator Smith gave his usual excellent talk about the things he sees as important at this critical time in our state's history. His message is about "empowering people", "protecting people" and "reflecting the values of North Carolina". Within this plan he emphasizes education, small business, safe streets, affordable health care, immigration reform and honest government.

The meeting was closed by singing "God Bless America", led by Deidre Jersey. This is the traditional way that Fred closes his BBQs and it is always a great ending. His message was well received by this Bertie County audience and there was a great deal of enthusiasm among the people who came. Almost no one left when the meeting was over, but stuck around to talk with Fred and their friends about what they had heard.

It is unlikely any other candidate for Governor will come to Bertie County in a meeting open to the public and stick around until everyone who wants to talk gets a chance to meet face to face. Fred explains it this way, "Political wisdom is that you go to the high population counties and run TV ads. I don't think that's right. Every county is important." It was a great meeting and a rare opportunity. Make sure you go meet this impressive man when he has a BBQ near you.


After this event was over Senator Smith headed for Northampton County and the second BBQ of the day. Click here to read about Northampton.

God Bless The U.S.A. By Lee Greenwood

Double click on Arrow to play video.





Awesome!

C.G. White Deal In Limbo

by Jennipher Dickens - October 8th, 2007 - Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

WINDSOR - Just when you think something's almost a done deal, everything seems to fall apart.

That's what it looks like is happening with Bertie County's acquisition of the C.G. White property from the Bertie Board of Education (BOE).

[snip]

Harrell [Board Chairman] advised Lamb [County Manger] to meet with the new school superintendent to discuss school needs and how best to meet those with existing facilities.

The former BOE members who arranged for the Federal Courts to order two of our schools closed have placed us in a really frustrating position. We apparently need more Elementary schools, but the two paid for by Bertie County taxpayers that are in good shape, J.P. Law and Askewville, cannot be used as schools. J.P. Law is especially needed since that is in the fastest growing part of the county and is the place where children are currently bussed the farthest to get to an overcrowded school. C.G. White, which needs a lot of work and which most people in the county would like to see used for other purposes, appears the only option as a result.

It was stupid to close those two schools, J.P. Law and Askewville.

The DOJ lawyers who asked for them to be closed did so for reasons that ignored where Bertie County is today. Their demand was based on lawyer career building and had nothing to do with the issues they claimed. They lied.

The unelected Judge that ordered them closed, Terrence Boyle, did so for political reasons and will always be held in contempt for what he did by many of us.

The BOE members and Central Office educrats who asked for the closure to try and ram through a consolidation of all elementary students into a single big elementary will never live down the damage they have done to our county. The decision was disdain for the desires of parents and did not serve our children. The overcrowding situation the new Superintendent now faces proves it.

Hopefully we will find some way out of this mess. However the only rational answer is the one answer that seems impossible, getting Terrence Boyle to reverse his decision to close the schools. Bertie County taxpayers will unfortunately pay for this truly stupid decision. Thanks Judge Boyle.

Tracy Bell Art Class Honored

There was a great crowd at yesterday's Bertie County Arts Council Open House. The artists from Tracy Bell's Art Class were there to be honored, and there was some great art to be had. I don't think I have ever seen so many "sold" signs at any art event.




There was also, as usual, some great food (shown below).




That is why the crowd was overflowing back into the kitchen. The space was needed with so many people present.








Collins Cooper, Realtor and candidate for Windsor Town Council, talks about the great paintings with Hannah Ruth McGaw.



Jaquelin Perry (shown above on the left) was one of the artists there with Tracy Bell (shown on the right)



Becky Hoggard, Boo Beasley and Margaret Attkisson were present and enjoying the art.



Laura Beasley, Beverly Harrington, Tra Perry and Martie Tyler (shown above left to right)



Kerry Sanders and her mother Elaine with Peggy Ann Vaughan.

There were some great paitings on display.



Bill White (grandfather of the girls in the painting, not the artist) stands beside one called Summertime - Alex and Ashley White as Nancy Spruill, the artist shows it off.



Bethel by Tracy Bell



Made in the Shade by Nancy Spruill



Dancing Crabs by Tra Perry



Swan by Laura Beasley



Rita and Jim Hoggard were clearly enjoying the show, the art, the people present and the ambience. It was a great event. Hope you were there. If not, you really ought to come out next month. See you there.

Don Carrington Speaks At Rotary

The Windsor Rotary was very pleased to welcome Don Carrington, Vice President of the John Locke Foundation and Executive Editor of the Carolina Journal, as today's speaker.

Before Mr. Carrington started his keynote address, the Rotary honored Kimberly Askew for winning the Rotary Scholarship, here being presented by Richard Whitley (shown below). Congratulations Kimberly!





After some other club business Mr. Carrington was introduced by Collins Cooper.

Mr. Carrington spoke about the investigative journalist function that the Carolina Journal performs, and the importance to clean government an organization such as the John Locke Foundation provides for our state. As a recent example, he talked about the incredible problems with the Rick Watson engineered Randy Parton Theatre built near Roanoke Rapids.




Rick Watson was a government official who arranged for bonuses for himself for simply doing his job, ultimately getting pay of approximately twice what the Governor is paid. In addition, there is evidence he negotiated with organizations which he was a part of to be provided government economic incentives, a clear conflict of interest that could well be illegal as well. However secrecy in this entire operation means we do not yet know the details of all of all these arrangements.

Randy Parton was the major beneficiary of a government deal that is still unbelievable. Mr. Carrington shared with us that details of the economic incentives for the "Randy Parton Theatre" indicate this operation was "launched totally with government funds."

There is also some indications that the whole idea for this "theatre" was conceived by Rick Watson and not Randy parton. In the process a $12 million theatre was funded with $21 million in local bonds. The theatre was paid for completely with public funds. In an unprecedented move Randy Parton was provided $3 million in operating capital. The other $6 million went for various "infrastructure" and other payments for whom the beneficiaries are not entirely clear.

An important question yet to be answered is why Richard Moore allowed this boondoggle to be built. It required his approval, which was given. However Richard Moore now acts like this approval was just a bureacratic step and oversight was not really his responsibility. What does he think a Treasurer is supposed to do?

The theatre is built and has been turned over to Randy Parton. Though publicly funded Mr. Parton has complete control. Mr. Parton is using the pubic funding he was given, the $3 million in operating funds, to pay himself $750 thousand a year in salary for operating the theatre, plus his daughters are on salary as well, being paid out of the public funds.

For a picture of the theatre click here.

Compare this to Mr. Parton's background. He was previously a hair dresser before he went to work for his sister as a band member at Dollywood, for a salary of $100,000 which was overcompensation. He never managed anything at Dollywood and even received reprimands for his conduct, including accusations of drinking on the site. He was a band member.

There is no indication that either Rick Watson or the town of Roanoke Rapids ever did a background check on Randy Parton. If they had they would certainly never have done this deal with someone with so little experience in the music busines.

Mr. Carrington called the Randy Parton Theatre "a unique low in public funded" actions. Most of the Rotary members agreed. You can click here for the exclusive series of articles that Don Carrington wrote about this fiasco if you want all the details.

Click on the title of this article above to find out more about the John Locke Foundation where Don is an executive. They are a great organization promoting good government in North Carolina.





Collins Cooper (shown above on left) presented Don with the traditional cobalt blue mug as a thank you for what was a very funny presentation, but which also provided us with some great enlightenment as to how corrupt government in North Carolina has become.

The sad part is that though this might be the most excessive abuse recently, similar things are still going on. That was the real point of Don's presentation.

Adam Stallings Sworn In As New Lawyer

Stephen Adam Stallings, known as Adam, is the newest attorney in Bertie County.

Graduating this year from Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his Juris Doctor, Mr. Stallings is a former recipient of the Best Oral Argument Award for Legal Research & Writing in 2005 among other awards.

Mr. Stallings previously received his B.A. in Philosophy from Wake Forest University with a Double Minor in Mathematics and International Studies. He attended Wake Forest on scholastic scholarships and consistently made the Dean's List at Wake Forest University from the Spring of 2001 through the Spring 2004.

Mr. Stallings is from Raleigh and graduated from Southeast Raleigh High School.

Mr Stallings is a new Associate at Pritchett & Burch in Windsor, NC having previously worked at the Lord Corporation as a Legal Intern for the Vice President of Legal.

Mr. Stallings is shown below as he is sworn in by Superior Court Judge Cy Grant in Windsor last Monday.




Senior Partner for Prichett & Burch, Mr. LLoyd Smith, is (shown below) congratulating Mr. Stallings.




The Honorable Valerie Asbell, District Attorney for our area (shown below) was on hand to congratulate Adam as well.





For an attorney, this is an important milestone in their career. Congratulations to Adam Stallings.