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Authorities have arrested two men in connection with a fatal shooting in downtown Raleigh last month.
It happened on Sept. 29 around 6:45 p.m. at New Bern Avenue and Hill Street.
Police said the victim, 30-year-old Joshua George Ayalogu, was taken to WakeMed, where he later died the following morning.
Following an investigation, detectives arrested 21-year-old Mikal JaJwan Jordan in the town of Ahoskie, which is about 120 miles northeast of Raleigh, without incident on Monday afternoon.
Police also arrested 21-year-old Solister Lester III in Raleigh without incident, in connection with the crime.
Both are facing murder charges and are being held in the Wake County Detention Center.
The investigation of the case is continuing, and anyone with information that might assist detectives is asked to call Raleigh CrimeStoppers at (919) 834-HELP or visit raleighcrimestoppers.org for text and email reporting options. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for anonymous tips that help solve cases.
ASHEBORO — A beautiful building of glass, block and stone — designed to look like an airplane wing from the air — is proposed to replace the outdated terminal at Asheboro Regional Airport.
Planners unveiled detailed plans and an estimated price tag of a two-story, 22,739-square-foot facility Thursday night during a special meeting of three boards — the Asheboro City Council, the Randolph County Commissioners and the Asheboro Airport Authority.
Estimated cost of the new building that would replace a terminal built in 1972 is $7,580,471.
A combination of federal, state and private funds could help pay for the upgrade, but the bulk of capital would have to come from city and county coffers.
Anticipated grants total about $1.1 million, including $500,000 earmarked by the state toward construction of a new terminal — the only terminal in North Carolina granted funds in this budget cycle. The members of the airport authority have pledged to raise half a million dollars as part of a private campaign, which would include naming opportunities.
Proponents say the new terminal — offering improved facilities for pilots, as well as meeting rooms and a cafe open to the public — would bolster the economic impact the airport already has on the aviation side of the ledger, while also growing its contribution to the county’s tourism economy.
Big impact
“Our goal is to have the airport be a vibrant destination for the casual visitor, but also the aviation enthusiast,” Bob Crumley said at the meeting.
Crumley, a member of the airport authority, noted that state figures place last year’s economic impact of the airport, which marked more than 125 flights per week, at $5.94 million. The tax value of airplanes hangared at the airport is almost $5.2 million, he said, which contributes to city and county coffers the tax equivalent of about 42 homes worth $121,000.
Traffic to airports the size of the Asheboro airport, one of 26 business class size airports in the state, Crumley said, will increase significantly in coming years as congestion increases at commercial airports, such as those in Charlotte and Greensboro. A new-and-improved terminal in Asheboro would position the airport to grab its share of that traffic.
City council members and county commissioners did not discuss funding the new terminal during the meeting.
After the meeting, Darrell Frye, chairman of the county commissioners, said he thinks there will be “positive support” for the project from the county. He also noted that in his decades as a county commissioner, this is the first time he recalls a request to fund anything at the airport.
“I think a good airport and the amenities that come with it could help all our economic development projects,” Frye said. “It’s not a city project — it’s a countywide project, a countywide benefit. I think it’s a viable project that the board is very much interested in seeing advanced.”
Asheboro Mayor David Smith said city council members will talk about the proposal and what it might mean for the city and county.
“We know that the airport is an economic engine,” he said. “We have to decide how much of an economic engine we intend for it to be long-term. We know it is woefully inadequate as a facility.”
Bigger impact?
The city-owned airport on Pilots View Road, off N.C. 49 west of town, was established in its present location in the mid-1960s. Through a series of expansions since then, the tarmac has grown from a 3,000-foot runway to more than a mile long. The facility also has a full-length taxiway. Large commercial airliners cannot land at the Asheboro airport, but business jets (and some commuter jets) can.
In 2001, North Carolina legislators tapped the aviation museum at the airport as the future home of a state aviation Hall of Fame. Today, letters on the exterior of a large hangar note that it houses the North Carolina Aviation Museum Hall of Fame, but there is only a museum. A Hall of Fame has never been developed.
The terminal proposal envisions space dedicated to pivotal events and personalities important in North Carolina’s aviation history, sort of a “teaser” Hall of Fame. Nearby doors at the end of the building would lead visitors out-of-doors to a covered walkway to the museum.
Crumley said a new terminal would bring visitors to the airport and to the museum — from school groups to pilots who need to log hours in the air. He said he believes the museum budget could grow by 20-fold in just a few years.
“We wanted to build something that was unique,” he said. “It will have pilots flying from all over the East Coast and saying ‘You’ve got to go see this airport.’ “
CHARLOTTE – Hurricane Patricia made landfall in Mexico Friday night as a dangerous Category 5 storm.
It morphed into the strongest hurricane on record – with sustained winds of 200 miles per hour — in just 24 hours, and meteorologists predicted it would pass over resort communities on the West Coast, where many Americans — and North Carolinians — rode out the storm.
“To be honest with you, I worried about my daughter, she is 18 months — I’m going to try not to get emotional. Just, what’s going to happen? Am I going to get to see her again?” Raleigh resident Heather Vaughan told Time Warner Cable News by phone Friday.
Vaughan and her husband were celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary at the Four Seasons resort in Punta Mita, Mexico, where resort officials required the nearly 500 guests to stay in a ballroom.
“They’ve got water for us and tons of food, and we have blankets — they’ve given us duvet comforters and pillows,” she said.
Mexico’s tourism secretary says about half of the people staying at hotels left ahead of the storm, as crews from North Carolina prepare to respond.
“Our expectation is that shelter’s going to be a big need, that clean water will be a big need, likely food will be a big need,” Ken Isaacs with Samaritan’s Purse said.
The Boone-based organization was readying its response team Friday night, anticipating being on the ground in the hardest hit areas in Mexico for two to four months, as soon as they can get there, Isaacs said.
“We need to see the path that the storm chose. We need to get permission and coordinate well with the government of Mexico,” he said.
The next mayor of Charleston will be confronted with an array of cold facts about race in a city that still carries the burden of its founding as a slave society.
The color line in Charleston is, to be sure, less boldly drawn in 2015, but it still snakes its way across the city, keeping whites on the side of advantage and privilege and blacks on the other, lesser side. It has been that way since 1669, when Charleston’s English settlers adopted a founding charter which said, “Every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves.”
click to enlarge
Provided
Bowers
Today’s Charleston, 50 years after the high points of the civil rights movement, flies a red flag in many indicators of racial disparities. In neighborhood inequality, the Charleston region ranks a disquieting 25th among the 225 most populous U.S. metro regions, according to the Urban Institute’s 2015 “Worlds Apart” index. The peninsula — the historical center of the city — is more segregated than it was in 1960, with many blacks concentrated in outlying neighborhoods of poverty. Many schools are defacto segregated, there are relatively few black-owned businesses, and blacks are disproportionately underrepresented in the leadership and workforce of companies in Charleston’s emerging “knowledge” industry. Forty-six years after the settlement of the hospital strike at Medical University of South Carolina by mostly black workers, a later generation in lower-level positions continues to claim unequal treatment.
Provided
Grubisich
It’s not as if the current mayor, the 72-year-old legend Joseph P. Riley Jr., who is retiring in January after serving 10 terms, did nothing to further racial equality. In 1982, Riley appointed the city’s first and only black police chief, who was tough on deeply segregated neighborhoods beset by violent crime, but also trained his mostly white force to be community peacemakers. In 1990, Riley led a 114-mile march to Columbia to protest the raising of the Confederate flag over the dome of the state capitol. In 2014, he was instrumental in the city erecting, after years of debate and delay, a statue of Denmark Vesey, the freed slave who preached a fiery Old Testament gospel, and, in 1822, was hanged, along with 34 slaves, for allegedly leading an anti-white insurrection. For the past couple of years, Riley has also been a principal fund raiser for the future International African American Museum that will tell the story of slavery and its generational aftermath from the very waterfront dock that made Charleston the North American center of the slave trade.
But what has been missing during Riley’s 40-year mayoralty is an initiative on racial equality that acknowledges the city’s omnipresent color line and puts in motion what it would take to erase it. City Hall has a model for just such an initiative, and Joe Riley was its creator. There was a model for the city tackling a deeply divisive issue, and Riley was its creator.
In 1994, Charleston found itself bursting with tourists, four million of them annually. Hotels, restaurants and other service providers were very happy with the several billion dollars the visitors were spending. But residents were infuriated at having to step around the manure deposited on the streets by horses pulling the tour carriages, by the neon signs of the souvenir shops with their piles of T-shirts, by some visitors stepping out of walking tours to relieve themselves into the hedges of antebellum mansions.
To head off what could have escalated into an open rift between business and the neighborhoods, Riley created a diverse tourism advisory committee to engage supporters and opponents and everybody in-between. They spent months listening to why tourism was crucial to Charleston’s economy — and, alternatively, why it was making the city unlivable in the eyes of some residents. After many months of deliberations, they produced an action plan that struck a balance among all the parties that has seen tourism grow into an industry of more than five million visitors annually who spend $4 billion, and which has won at least the grudging support of the neighborhoods that had seen themselves as besieged.
In 2015, the city needs what we would call the United and Equal Charleston Plan. Its advisory committee, which should be even more diverse than the one Riley organized on tourism, would be tasked to bring together everybody on both sides of the color line. It would present detailed research done by a combination of city agencies and local educational and other private institutions to pinpoint every place where inequality exists in Charleston — in housing, public schools, healthcare, business and employment, and law enforcement, justice, and incarceration. Next, the committee would recommend how to close the equality gaps. Whatever this committee proposed would have to survive the scrutiny of public hearings. After everybody had their say, the recommendations would go to the City Council and other governmental bodies to be translated into laws, directives, and other action aimed at specific disparities. The goal would be equality as a “fact and as a result” in the still-reverberating words of President Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1965 address at historically black Howard University in Washington D.C.
What Charleston, the former slave society, would do to erase its color line would be a beacon to other localities across America in helping them to face up to the consequences of their own historically embedded segregation.
All this is too late to happen on Mayor Riley’s watch, but the timing is perfect for his successor who will be chosen from among six candidates, white and black, male and female, experienced in local government and newbies. The winner, with no incumbency record that he or she would have to explain or justify, will be free to tell the truth about the city’s racial facts. But so far there hasn’t been much truth telling. The two reputedly strongest candidates, State Rep. Leon Stavrinakis and community activist and small-business owner Ginny Deerin, don’t mention race conditions once in their platforms. In his video, Stavrinakis emphasizes “I’ll cut commuting time by syncing up traffic lights and finishing [I-]526.” In her flyers, Deerin focuses on her “bold transportation plan to relieve congestion and keep Charleston moving.” It’s essentially the same with the other candidates, white or black, as the Nov. 3 vote nears.
This eerie campaign silence about the state of race in Charleston contrasts sharply with what has happened in the community since the June 17 massacre at black Emanuel AME Church. On the Sunday after the event, hundreds of Charlestonians of all races prayed, hugged each other and sang “Amazing Grace,” as church bells tolled their beats for each victim at the United Prayer and Worship Gathering in Marion Square. The same things happened in city churches and other meeting places. Charleston’s two racial cultures appeared to be ready to come together. “Don’t Deny, Unify” became the catchphrase of what was starting to look like a new period in which Charleston would finally begin to put the eraser to its nearly 350-year-old color line.
In the new spirit of truth telling, during PBS’s Sept. 21 town-hall meeting “America After Charleston” at Circular Congregational Church, a middle-aged white man in work clothes and a ball cap stood up and said into the microphone, “My main purpose is to get out of denial and unlearn the racism I learned in the South and help other white men become part of the solution.”
Chelsea Haines file photo
Vice President John C. Calhoun’s statue looms over Marion Square
The new mayor, upon taking office in January 2016, should make public policy out of the community’s collective cry of “Don’t Deny, Unify.” He or she, using Joe Riley’s proven blueprint, should create a United and Equal Charleston Plan.
The plan’s first recommendation ought to be the removal of the monument to former U.S. Vice President and slavery champion John C. Calhoun in Marion Square, a block and a half away from Mother Emanuel. That’s the start of the truth telling. Next should be a companion recommendation for a replacement monument.
“Marion Square Re-squared” would be a civic declaration announcing Charleston’s determination to achieve racial equality. No longer would minorities have to feel marginalized by the caped figure of Calhoun bestriding history from his 80-foot-high pedestal. The removal of the monument would also mean Charlestonians of all races wouldn’t have to avert their eyes from the memorial’s bronze homage to Calhoun’s motto of “truth, justice, and the Constitution.”
There would, of course, be opposition to the monument’s removal, but they’re not all white supremacists. Some preservationists, like Charleston historian Robert N. Rosen, say the monument should be viewed as a history lesson about racial injustice. But in this period of deepening national racial unease, how much history can be learned from a monument that honors a sectional political leader who proclaimed the “positive good” of slavery?
And then what should replace the divisive monument to Calhoun? We propose that it honor the most significant milestone of racial progress in Charleston’s history — the adoption of a new state constitution in 1868 that went beyond Reconstruction mandates and guaranteed equal and unconditional voting rights for all males, regardless of race. (An amendment from the floor for universal suffrage was defeated by the all-male assembly.) The year 2018 will mark the 150th anniversary of the convention, which was held about a mile down the peninsula and shockingly is not memorialized anywhere in the city. There’s time enough now to erect a monument to that event, or at least have a commissioned design ready when its anniversary arrives.
Who can make this happen? Hopefully the decision, once Calhoun is gone, belongs to the new mayor and the united and equal people of Charleston.
Tom Grubisich, a former Washington Post reporter, and Elizabeth Bowers, a contributor to Charlie magazine, are co-writing a book about race in Charleston called Charleston: The Bigger Story of America’s Favorite City. They can be reached at @TomGrubisich and @bowerse. The hashtag for a monument in Marion Square honoring the 1868 constitution and its white and black authors is: #marionsquareresquared.
King residents will have a choice of four candidates for two city council seats when they go to the polls on Nov. 3.
Incumbents Brian Carico and Dillard Burnette are facing two challengers, Tom Enterline and Rick McCraw.
The Stokes News sent each of the candidates a list of questions concerning their thoughts for the future of the city. The questions and the candidate’s unedited responses are printed below.
1. Please provide a history of your public service including any boards or councils you have served on and any subcommittees you have served on.
Burnette — I have served as King Little League President, City of King Parks Recreation Advisory Committee, Northwest Piedmont Council of Government, Chairman, co-chaired the merger of the Northwest Piedmont Council of Governments and Piedmont Council of Governments to the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments and then served as Chairman of the newly formed Piedmont Triad Council of Governments, 12 years on the King City Council (10 years as Mayor Pro Tempore).
Carico — I currently sit in 1 of 4 City Councilman seats and have occupied that seat since 2011. I have served as a member of the Stokes County Republican Executive Committee from 2011-2015. I was the Vice Chairman of the Republicans East King precinct committee from Feb.2013-Feb.2015 and am currently serving as Secretary of the East King precinct.
Enterline —Long Range Planning Committee West York School District, York, Pa; Fire Advisory Board West Manchester Township, York County, Pa; Leadership York Board Training, York Area Labor Management Council
McCraw — In the King Community I have served as Charter Member, President, Vice President, Sergeant of Arms, and on the Board of Directors of the King Rotary Club. I served on the interim pastor search committee at King First Baptist. I serve as the chaplain and road captain of the Winston Salem Harley Owners’ Group. I serve on the board of the Home Owners’ Association of Country Place in King. I also serve as an alternate on the City of King Planning Board.
2. How long have you lived in King? Are you involved any any civic organizations or church groups? If so which ones?
Burnette — I have made King my home for the last 40 years. I raised my family in King. I am a member of the King Lion’s Club (Past President).
Carico — I have lived in King practically all my life, although there was a short period while growing up that we lived in the Westfield community of Stokes County. My family and I attend church at First Christian Church Ministries in Kernersville, NC.
Enterline — I have lived in King for 3 years and 8 months. After 36 years of employment with Caterpillar Inc and subsequent retirement, my wife and I chose King as our retirement location due to the core values that the city demonstrates, that being a strong Christian environment, with strong family values, patriotic , and conservative values. I am a member of Calvary Baptist Church in King, serving as director of the Jail Ministry, serving on the Missions Committee, substitute Sunday School teacher, and Security Team member.
McCraw — I have been a resident of King for 18 years. I am a charter member of the King Rotary Club, 17 year member of First Baptist Church in King where I have served as Deacon, sing in the choir, have taught the middle school Sunday School class for 15 years, volunteer with our church’s youth group, chaperone the special needs class’ annual Summer camp trip, and serve on the Man Power team. With my church I traveled as a missionary to Nepal and Thailand in 1999.
3. What do you consider to the best assets/skills/experience you will bring to the table if elected ?
Burnette — Leadership and experience.
Carico — I believe my current knowledge of city functions and willingness to stand for what is right regardless of pressure, sets me apart from other candidates. My strong work ethic and my devotion to this position is a skill that makes the difference. I do not consider this position as a “hobby”. My experience as a business owner gives a clear value of a dollar and teaches how to make tough decisions. Most importantly, my reliance on God through prayer gives me a peace with my decisions.
Enterline — I have worked in three managerial positions over a period of 36 years for Caterpillar Inc, a Fortune 50 company. Those positions include Industrial Security, Industrial Hygiene Safety Management, and Operations Support Staff respectively. Directing the aforementioned is very similar to directing and managing the affairs of a city such as King, at least two of the three Caterpillar facilities I worked at being nearly half the size of King in employee population. In addition to supervisory/management training over this time-frame, I have earned an Advanced Safety Certificate from the National Safety Council in addition to being Six Sigma certified. Identifying and relating to the emergency services of the City of King, I have received training and certifications with the following at Delaware State Fire School: Fire Brigades 1-5, Emergency Preparedness – Safe Operating Procedures, Confined Space Rescue, and Hazardous Materials Response – Technician Command.
McCraw — As member of the City Council and of this community I would seek to uphold Christian values with a servant’s heart, and a love for the people of this city.
4. Why have you decided to run for City Council?
Burnette — To continue service to the citizens of King as I have done in the past.
Carico — My decision to run for re-election is simple, “I care”. “I care” about the community that I grew up in and want the same for my family. “I care” about being financially responsible for our community so that it may flourish for years to come. “I care” to be an ear to listen and a voice to vote so the citizens of King could be heard.
Enterline — I have decided to run for King City Council for primarily two reasons. I believe that I have much to offer the position on King City Council from the positions that I have worked and the experience that I have acquired as described in question number 3. In addition, to be a conservative representative on City Council and uncompromising in regard to Christian Liberty…the recent matter with our Christian flag and kneeling soldier a stimulus to run.
McCraw — I have decided to run for City Council in order to serve my city and bring about positive growth to better the lives and opportunities of its citizens.
5. What do you feel the City Council can do to improve the quality of life in King?
Burnette — We are a full service city and continue to provide these services at the lowest cost possible.
Carico — The City Council can improve the quality of life in our community by continuing to invest in our citizens through our Senior Services program, our parks for all ages, programs through the Arts Council, City sponsored events, helping to support The Chamber of Commerce, and many other ways. This investment from young to old will continue to grow for generations to come.
Enterline — We must have leadership that reflects the core values of King and conservative application to the mechanics of each value, that being: The protection of our Religious Liberty, the support of Strong Family Values, the support and strong stand on Public Safety, and Fiscal responsibility in all considerations…(The spirit of Six Sigma applied without the actual process in place) With sincere attention to our core values, the Quality of Life will continue to improve in the City of King.
McCraw — The lives of the citizens of the city of King could be improved, I feel, by keeping taxes to a minimum, and reducing needless spending. I would love to see the realization of a greenway project connecting King Recreation Acres, Public Library, Central Park, and the YMCA.
6. What do you see as the three biggest issues facing King during the next term? How do you propose those issues be addressed?
Burnette — Getting sewer rates under control, keeping taxes as low as possible, and continuing to give full service.
Carico — One of the biggest issues facing King is the ever rising sewer rates because of the dependency of Winston-Salem for sewer treatment. We can remedy this by collecting data in how feasible it would be to begin our own sewage plant and be self-reliant. Another important task is looking for ways to promote industry development with us being closely located to the future I- 74 corridor. This would be important to give opportunity to King for jobs and tax base to relieve pressure from the residents supporting our city. Also, with Walmart starting construction soon, this will open opportunity for retail occupants. We the city council need to be prepared for appropriate land use to attract investors to the commercial areas of our community.
Enterline — #1 Sewage waste rates incurred by the public and as described in survey question #8. Address with current feasibility study; #2 Cultivating a favorable atmosphere for additional business/employment; #3 Religious Liberty
McCraw — Three of the main issues I hope to address in the upcoming term are:1. The construction of a sewage treatment facility to sever King’s dependence on Forsyth County. I hope to promote this project and push it forward to its realization; 2. The continued revitalization of Downtown King in order to preserve our city’s heritage and promote small businesses in the historic district, 3. I also hope to promote the Economic Growth of King to accommodate the creation of jobs in our community, and attract outside visitors to boost the economy of King.
7. The county and Walnut Cove have been asked to place “In God We Trust” on government buildings and the U.S. Motto Action Committee has said it plans to make a similar request in King. What would your response to such a request be?
Burnette — I do not have a response because they have not made a proposal and I do not know the history behind this.
Carico — I would welcome a request for “in God We Trust” to be placed in our community. I am an advocate for remembering where we came from. This national motto is the foundation of who we are as Americans.
Enterline — I am now, and would as a city councilman, be in favor of the U.S. Motto Action Committee’s plans to place, “In God We Trust”, on King City Hall. With the proclamation, “In God We Trust”, on our coinage and paper money, on some state license plates, and at our Stokes County Courthouse, it would be only fitting to have “In God We Trust” on our local governmental building as well.
McCraw — I support the addition of the motto “In God We Trust” on the government buildings in King.
8. King is currently conducting a study to asses the feasibility of constructing its own sewage treatment facility to sever its dependency on rates set by Winston-Salem. If elected, how would you approach this issue?
Burnette — The same way I approached the water treatment plant project, first to determine the results of the feasibility study and then to investigate possible grants or low interest funding.
Carico — We first need to collect information on cost analysis for this process. The process of building a sewage plant is lengthy and time consuming yet potentially could be cost saving long term. The reason for exploring this issue is simple math. Every year there is an increase in sewer rates due to Winston-Salem giving an increase. It has been suggested as much as 10 percent in previous years. If this was to stay consistent with past years we could be paying double in sewer rates in the next 10-15 years. This is why we need to act now instead of continuing to “pass the buck” for future generations.
Enterline — The north/east, where I am from, and the Midwest, where I have lived for the past eight years before moving to King, certainly is known to have a higher, across-the-board, cost of living. Thus, many advantages to living in the south. Relating to King, I have found the exception to the rule in one area, and that to be with my waste utility bill to be much higher than the municipalities that I have lived in in the north. This is one complaint that I have found with consistency among the people of King. The feasibility study will take some time but is a matter that I do support.
McCraw — I support and hope to promote the construction of a sewage treatment facility in King.
9. Taxes are always a concern for voters. What is your philosophy on taxes and do you foresee a situation in which you would vote to raise taxes in King?
Burnette — I would only raise taxes in King if it was the last possible resort to keep our full-service city running.
Carico — Taxes should not have to be raised as long as there are “wants” being furnished in the City of King. I have done my very best to help make sure that departmental needs are met with some “wants” being furnished. Until the “wants” are gone, a tax increase is not warranted. The only way I would ever support a tax increase is if the City would require funding for a “need” that the current tax base could not afford.
Enterline — One can never say “never” when it comes to raising taxes, BUT as a fiscal conservative, my endeavor would always be to maintain services that are favorable to our citizens while searching out various avenues of adjustments and procurement that would result without raising taxes.
McCraw — I have a conservative approach to taxation and spending. I do not foresee raising taxes of King’s residents.
10. What is your favorite thing about your community? What do you think is your community’s greatest strength?
Burnette — They are friendly and pull together when in need and the schools are excellent.
Carico — My favorite thing about our community is we have the ability to furnish a wide variety of amenities with a down-home attitude. We are able to supply everything from household goods to business needs without leaving our community. I appreciate activities within our parks and things as simple as a cherry coke at the drug store. The strength of our community is in the people that live here. We are hard-working people that do not mind fixing what needs to be done for us and our families.
Enterline — King’s greatest strength is a community of strong family values. This attribute of our community is primarily due to our embrace of Judeo-Christian principals/ethics. King is a faith based community for which we can be proud.
McCraw — What initially drew me and my family to King and keeps us here is its small town feel and strong sense of pride in the community. I feel that most of its citizens value this as well.
11. Walmart is currently scheduled to begin construction in the winter of 2016. Many people hope that this construction will bring additional businesses and restaurants to the area, but some likely co-locating restaurants like Applebee’s or Chili’s have a business model which requires liquor by the drink. Would you consider support the local ABC laws to attract businesses like this? Why or why not?
Burnette — I would vote to hold a referendum and allow our citizens to vote on this issue. That is the only fair way to get a real idea of what our citizens want.
Carico — I am supportive of restaurant businesses wanting to locate to our area but I am not supportive of a change in the local ABC laws for our community. I do enjoy a nice restaurant and I have nothing against the above mentioned establishments, but I do not agree with bringing the availability of drinks into our Community that the change in local ABC laws would allow.
Enterline — I do not support a change to the local ABC laws. I do not feel it would be beneficial to our community.
McCraw — Although the change of the ABC laws would attract businesses that serve liquor by the drink, I personally do not support his action. As a city council I feel we should look for other avenues of attracting businesses that don’t rely on liquor by the drink as a source of income.
12. What would you do to spur economic growth in King?
Burnette — We have grants for facade improvements in our historic downtown area. I think that expanding public parking downtown would be greatly appreciated by the business owners and would also help to attract new businesses.
Carico — Economic growth is something that can be done in a couple of different ways. One way is by continuing to furnish our City with the availability of excellent resources, services, and rates that would attract the needs and criteria that businesses are looking for. Secondly, by promotion of proper land use and zoning, while following up on potential leads to acquire businesses.
Enterline — Continue to cultivate a business friendly city with measured growth, and considerations to location and environmental impact.
McCraw — To spur economic growth in King I feel we must try to make our community attractive to outside businesses with tax incentives, tourism, and community events like Feed Stokes 5K and Half Marathon that attract outside visitors, encourage citizen involvement, and spotlight our local small businesses and city facilities such as Central Park and Recreation Acres.
13. What is your level of satisfaction with current municipal services? Are there any departments you would like to see improvements in, and if so how would you propose achieving those improvements?
Burnette — I am happy with them but I think that we need to pursue our own sewer system.
Carico — I believe we have a high level of services that our City departments provide to our community, but no department is perfect. In the almost 4 years I have served, we have made changes to all departments by clearing waste, while still providing quality services that we as citizens expect. It is my belief that every department should show reason for their funding request, not just ask for a blank check. It is the Council’s responsibility to monitor spending and Policy functionality within departments to see if changes are required.
Enterline — I am very much satisfied with our municipal services present in the City of King. While speaking with those of our community, I have received only two complaints, and that being with individual interactions. All departments must endeavor to strive for continuous improvement, both as a unit and on a personal level. Courteous customer relations/interactions, and appropriate follow-up where applicable by our representatives is an absolute we must maintain.
McCraw — I am satisfied with King’s municipal services and strongly support our local Police Force, Firemen, and EMS.
14. Is there anything else you would like the voters to know about you or your candidacy?
Burnette — I have always served the citizens in good faith and honesty and always put the taxpayer’s best interest first.
Carico — I have enjoyed the last almost 4 years helping oversee the City’s business and getting to know different ones within the community. Although there have been great times and tough times, I feel we can continue to make King our great City. If anyone should have questions, feel free to contact me at bcarico@ci.king.nc.us. Thank You!
Enterline — I am married to the former Susan Prosperi of Altoona, Pennsylvania. We have four children and ten grandchildren with number eleven on the way.I am an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam era having served in the Philippines and Taiwan, finishing my term of service in Presidential Security for President Nixon and foreign dignitaries at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. I am a member of the NRA with favored past-times to include hunting, fishing, and hiking. Of Christian service, in addition to what I have listed in this questionnaire, I have participated in missions trips to Brazil and to the Philippines and am a volunteer with HELP Ministries of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina. My Christian beliefs and faith are paramount to how I conduct my life, the word of God being my final authority in all matters of faith and morals.
McCraw —I will do my best to serve both God and Country and be a voice for ALL people putting Service above Self. I will strive to: Support our Police, Fire, EMS and all other City departments; Promote lower taxes and less spending; Support our School System; Ensure that our community becomes appealing to new businesses/industries and tourism; Support the Arts; Create an atmosphere that promotes the creation of more jobs; Support programs that promotes our youth and Senior citizens and provide for a safe and clean community; Live by the Rotary 4 Way Test in everything we think say and do Is it the truth, Is it fair to all concerned, Will it build good will and better friendships, Will it be beneficial to all concerned.
Nicholas Elmes may be reached at 336-591-8191 or on Twitter @NicholasElmes.
Municipalities across the state will head to the polls starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3 to elect leaders for vacant government positions. The Town of Black Mountain will see three of the five seats on the board of aldermen decided by voters.
Four candidates are on the ballot for three seats.
Incumbents Don Collins, Maggie Tuttle and Larry Harris were each elected in 2011 and are being opposed by challenger Rachel Allen, who most recently served as the chair of the zoning board of adjustment.
The Black Mountain News submitted four questions to each candidate and allowed a maximum of 200 words per response.
What single issue do you believe is the most important issue the town is currently facing?
Collins: Continuing growth without losing our small town character. There has been a lot of push in the last four years to do things that did not pass the character test.
Growing the town and maintaining who we are is important to me. Running the town efficiently in all departments, like what is being done now by the town manager and staff, allows us to tie in the next three questions together because no single issue is more pressing.
By running efficiently we can keep the town tax rate the second lowest in the county and keeping your taxes in check allowing us all to have vision on new projects and how to pay for them.
Harris: Stay the course on the current path of debt reduction, saving and prudent spending that has been a priority for the board of aldermen over the past four years.
Over the past four years the board has decreased our long-term debt by almost $2 million. During that same period of time money was set aside for dredging the lake, a new firetruck and other investments for our town.
Debt is necessary at times but it’s hard to make an argument for more debt and less savings. If we can stay the course that was started four years ago and continue to keep our financial house in order we lay a great foundation for the future.
When times get hard or a great opportunity presents itself, money in the bank and less debt to repay will be a good thing for the citizens of Black Mountain.
We should use the most current updated comprehensive plan as a guide along with a well thought out long term capital budget. The comprehensive plan was developed with significant public input and I think fairly represents a workable blue print for future spending.
Tuttle: The most current issue facing the town is the upcoming election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Maintaining the level of competence and trust that has been demonstrated and established by the entire town operation is critical.
Teamwork is at its best and voting for the three incumbents will ensure the process will continue. It’s vital that the voters get to the polls and indicate their support for the most effective results.
Voters, please get out and show the quality and pride that we have in Black Mountain.
Allen: Strengthening and encouraging the economic growth of Black Mountain is vital to the long term health and development of our town.
So far, our town has done a wonderful job of creating sidewalks and greenways. It has maintained recreational areas beautifully.
Our town needs to continue to work toward being a pedestrian-biker-runner-friendly town.
Continuing the sidewalk all the way to the Town of Montreat would provide a totally safe walking environment connecting the two towns. This would be to the benefit of the ever-growing number of runners and strollers we have in Black Mountain.
A bike lane on Old Highway 70 to Ridgecrest would create a much safer environment for bikers and runners, while connecting Black Mountain with the community of Ridgecrest.
Completing the connection of sidewalks in town, continuing the sidewalk down from Ingles onto Blue Ridge Road to Rec Park should also be considered. By focusing on completing these projects, the town would not only encourage the residents to explore our unique town, but also continue to strengthen the local economy.
Collins: The Town of Black Mountain promotes affordable housing in 3 ways.
The first is our inclusionary housing bonus. We allow density bonus development that includes housing sold at price points affordable for citizens of average median income.
We can also allow a developer to construct more units per acre than is allowed. The second way we promote is through our fee schedule. The town provides a 50% rebate from the calculated building permit fee for construction projects developed by a housing agency utilizing federal or state CDBG, home, HUD or other grant funds designed for affordable housing.
We promote affordable housing through our participation in the Asheville Regional Housing Consortium. The purpose of this consortium is to improve the quality and increase the supply of affordable housing.
Harris: We have to incentivize investors and we have been working on it. We provide incentives when a development is geared toward those within established income guidelines.
We recently worked with the Roberts Farm developers toward more affordable housing. Josh Harrold (Director of Planning) serves on the Asheville Regional Housing Consortium so we have a seat at the table as we work on this at the county level.
I serve on the executive committee and am Treasurer of the Land of the Sky Regional Council. I served on a LOSRC committee charged with updating the regional economic plan for the five-county region served by the council.
Affordability, according to the plan, is “a household being able to spend 30% or less of their income on housing which includes the cost of the home and utilities.”
According to the 2010 census nearly 10 percent (17,000 households) in the region served by LOSRC is unable to find affordable housing. Solutions offered by the CEDS is to facilitate integration of transportation with land use decisions in the region and work toward better infrastructure in more rural areas to incentivize the investment in affordable housing. It is not just a Black Mountain issue.
Tuttle: Affordable housing is a community issue. I would like to see the planning board take an active role researching and developing some viable options that will work for our particular issues.
The solution should involve input and support from several sources: non-profit, government (Federal, state, local), private business and individuals. Currently the town has affordable housing incentives in place such as increasing density for builders, reducing permitting fees for lower cost housing and a planning director who serves on the regional housing consortium that allocates funds for affordable housing complexes.
Allen: The lack of affordable housing, along with minimum standard housing, is very important to many of our Valley residents. As suggested by public comments in the 2014 Comprehensive Plan Update, landlords must provide affordable housing, as well as minimum standard housing.
There are homes, apartments and mobile homes in Black Mountain for rent that are affordable, but not well cared for by the landlord. The Comprehensive Plan could be revisited to see how well these guidelines are working and what issues need to be revised. In addition to revisiting this document, Aldermen could also work hand-in-hand with contractors to find areas of common understanding which could lower the overall costs to the builders with agreements that would ensure, not just quality-built homes, but guaranteed levels of affordability.
I think with my four years’ of service on the zoning board of adjustment (three of which I served as Chair), I have a great deal of insight on how we might accomplish all of this.
How do you think the Town of Black Mountain can maintain its unique character while balancing the need to attract more residents and businesses?
Collins: By continuing to use existing grants and forward thinking when spending town, tax-payer money we can look at bike trails, greenways, and things that most good-paying businesses are drawn to in any municipality.
Harris: Effective transportation planning and land use polices are key for the balance we all desire in character and growth. Transportation includes motor vehicles, walking and biking.
We will always be developing and improving our greenways, sidewalks and bike paths since this means so much to our citizens. Traffic flow is the important factor in preserving the character of our down town business district and overall business development. The French Broad Metropolitan Planning Organization is the regional forum to approve transportation projects for funding.
Maggie Tuttle was appointed by the board of aldermen to serve as our representative to MPO and has represented us well. We have projects on the funding list.
Land use codes are essential to managing growth that will maintain the unique character of Black Mountain. Josh Harrold our Planning and Development Director has done a great job since arriving on the scene reviewing our land use code for inconsistencies and short comings and recommending changes as needed.
In calendar 2015 we will begin work on an amendment to the comprehensive plan to include a land use map. The land use map will highlight areas for growth and general design guidelines according the current comprehensive plan update.
Tuttle: Never forget where our unique character came from, our past. The balance comes from supporting what we have using the comprehensive plan that was recently updated.
This plan covers all aspects of the town and was written with input from citizens and approved by the planning board and aldermen.
Allen: The unique character of Black Mountain has been attractive to me since I first laid eyes on it as an infant. The quaint downtown atmosphere is pleasant and inviting, while being accessible to residents and tourists who want to stroll through and enjoy the many different shops.
Maintaining all of this is critical to attracting more residents and the highest caliber of businesses. Keeping the business district and the residential district separate, but easily attainable to each other, through sidewalks and greenways is a calling card for Black Mountain.
Business expansion on the edges of town can be used to continue to revitalize our town, while preserving the neighborhoods.
Renovating historic buildings through voluntary standards which maintain the unique character of our town adds to the charm of Black Mountain’s history, encouraging economic growth.
What do you believe are the keys to successfully moving Black Mountain forward into the future?
Collins: The keys to successfully moving any town forward or any municipality is focusing on the budget which we have done the last four years. We have $1,872,000 less debt. We have $792,000 more in the general fund. All this with eliminating the $1.2 million garbage tax.
Things will come down the road that are unforeseen. Having your finances in order makes those large issues, smaller issues when your finances are sound.
Harris: First and foremost if we want to move forward successfully into the future we must keep our financial house in good order. We must stay the course ($1.8 million less debt over the past four years) in keeping our debt burden as low as possible while setting aside funds for firetrucks and deferred maintenance for our town buildings and water lines.
The comprehensive strategic plan updated just a few years ago should serve as our blue print as we move forward into the future. The strategic plan update was developed with significant input from our citizens so we know there is broad community support for this important blue print for the future.
Leadership matters. The board of aldermen should be mindful of developing and encouraging leadership within the ranks of our town employees and the volunteer efforts by so many who serve on boards, commissions, and committees.
All these people keep our community moving forward and we are indeed blessed. May God continue to bless those who work, serve and live in Black Mountain.
Tuttle: The process by which we operate is key. The teamwork that has been established will enable us to accomplish any task at hand and keep the future open. Stop. Take care of what we have.
At the present we are concentrating on infrastructure improvements to the water system, making town facilities (such as the Carver Center) energy efficient, replacing worn-out service vehicles, dredging Lake Tomahawk, addressing storm water runoff, street paving and stream bank restoration.
Completing our greenways, sidewalks and bicycle paths are essential to economic development. The I-40 Blue Ridge interchange will make our town safer and enhance economic growth. U.S. 70 West will become a denser business corridor. U.S. 70 East also has potential for growth. The core for success is maintaining a sound economic plan. As a town, we welcome diversity and change.
Black Mountain is a retirement community where tourism fuels our economic engine. We must keep in perspective the people who live here and see their needs are addressed. Caring about our town makes us safer, better and wiser.
Allen: Black Mountain has shown tremendous growth in just a few short years. While being able to compete with larger towns and cities, Black Mountain has kept its small town atmosphere of neighbors helping neighbors providing a safe and secure environment to live, work and explore our many natural surroundings.
In order to have that safe and secure environment we must equip our law enforcement and emergency personnel with the very best tools available to maintain that sense of security. Through this, visitors to our town will feel welcome and want to visit again and again, further boosting our economy.
We must also invest in our local schools to support the safe and secure learning environment of our future. As a teacher of 22 years at the (former) JEC, Black Mountain Primary School and W.D. Williams, no one else on the board of aldermen could know this as well as I do for our local schools.
We should work with parents and staff to nurture children in promoting community relationships which, in turn, will encourage entrepreneurship. All of this will help move Black Mountain forward.
Could Broome County be close to landing a major steel manufacturer creating 600 jobs?
“A major company proposes to invest $150 million to construct a new value-added manufacturing facility in Broome County, resulting in creation of 600 high-paying jobs,” says a passage in the Southern Tier region’s proposal for a share of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative, which will distribute $1.5 billion from state settlements among regions in the state.
The document goes on to say the facility will use new energy technologies — such as combined heat and power systems — and train veterans, long-term unemployed people and ex-offenders, while shipping products all over the United States and world.
No company or site is named.
On Tuesday in Albany, before a panel hearing pitches from regional councils each seeking a half-billion share of the money, Tier council co-chairman Harvey Stenger, president of Binghamton University, was asked to elaborate. He didn’t name a company or site, saying no deal has been signed and that competitors might be trying to negotiate it away from the region.
He noted that the region has an ample supply of scrap metal that could perhaps best be used as material reprocessed into advanced steel products.
One of the Northeast’s largest scrap companies is Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling, which is based in Owego and has several facilities elsewhere in the state as it grows through acquiring other companies in the metals-recycling business.
A major company in the business of melting down scrap for new steel products include Nucor Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., which has plants in Chemung and Auburn.
Nucor’s products include steel used in construction, such as bars, beams, sheet and plate steel, piling, joists and joist girders and steel deck. In the outlook section of its most recent annual report, the company said it’s facing a soft market for steel, import competition and less demand for steel used in oil and gas exploration, but added it is financially strong and intends to make capital investments.
Calls to Nucor on Wednesday and Thursday were not returned.
As for the regional entry in the contest for grants, Stenger was joined by co-chairman Tom Tranter of Corning Enterprises and other council members and staff as they presented their plan to the state-level panel.
The package of projects for which state aid is sought from various agencies focuses on three main initiatives: Revitalizing urban cores in Binghamton, Endicott and Johnson City with funds also sought for projects in Elmira’s downtown and Ithaca’s Collegetown; enhancing the transportation-equipment manufacturing cluster of companies in the region; and making more of agriculture through processing and shipping facilities and year-round growing in “controlled-environment” settings such as greenhouses. There’s also a group of projects aimed at promoting tourism.
Three winning regions are to get $500 million each in the Upstate Revitalization Initiative while those that lose out will still get millions from the state’s annual round of competitive grant awards. Critics of the system say state money would be better spent on infrastructure improvements while state officials defend the competition as helping leaders better research regional economies and focus on what is needed.
Tranter and Stegner said the region has $2.5 billion in private investments ready if the region wins. Tranter told the panel state money is most needed and would go farthest in the Southern Tier because it’s the smallest.
“We are the region most in need of your help with this 500 million dollars, so we ask for your thorough and thoughtful consideration,” he said.
A decision on the upstate initiative is scheduled for early December.
According to South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association executive director Shell Dula on Wednesday night, the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl will remain Dec. 12 at Myrtle Beach’s Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
That creates conflict because, after catastrophic flooding in the state, the South Carolina High School League earlier moved championship football games back a week. Although the new dates for Class A and 2A title games are Dec. 4 and 5, Dec. 12 is the new date for title games in 3A and 4A.
Rosters for the North-South game will be picked Monday and released Tuesday or Wednesday, according to Marlboro County football coach Dean Boyd, who will coach the South team in this contest also known as the North-South all-star game.
Boyd, whose Bulldogs fell one game short of last year’s 3A state title game, talked Thursday night about the decision to not move the North-South game.
“ It could create a situation for any of our coaches except for those coming from 1A and 2A; 3A and 4A could be affected by it,” Boyd said. “Of course, if you reach the state championship game, you’re not going to go to the all-star game. But for (Marlboro County) to do something like that this year, we’re going to have to get a whole lot better. But we did last year. And, you never know – you could get better as the season goes on this year, too.”
That creates some changes with the selection process, though.
“ I think we’re going to select the ones we feel like deserve to be there and select more alternates than we have in the past,” Boyd said.
After Boyd was asked if any other alternative scheduling could have been set for the North-South game, he said he did not think so.
“ I think nothing could have been done. I know some have asked why could we not have moved the game to the week of the Shrine Bowl (Dec. 19) and play on the Friday night (Dec. 18),” Boyd said. “Look, there are so many logistics with something like that. The meals, the hotels and all those types of things that’s been booked years ahead of time, and I just don’t see how you can up and change it because you’re talking about Myrtle Beach, a highly populated tourism place.
“ You can’t change 200 rooms at the drop of a hat, or whatever.”
After Boyd was asked via text what would happen if his Marlboro County team reached the 3A state final, he responded, “I guess one of the assistants, but I would love for that to happen.”
McBee girls golf 6th in state
McBee’s girls golf team, which won the SCHSL Class 2A state title last year, was sixth in this year’s state meet this week. Chesterfield placed ninth.
The Panthers’ Amber Winburn finished seventh and earned all-state honors.
“ She has good dedication. She’s on the course probably seven days a week, anytime the weather permits,” McBee girls golf coach Eddie McKenzie said. “She’s not only a good student and golfer, she has that dedication.”
Football Players of the Week
Offense: Carolina Academy’s Luke Fennell rushed for 408 yards and four touchdowns during the Bobcats’ 62-26 win against Laurens Academy. Defense: Lake City’s Terquan Rush made 16 tackles and intercepted a pass during the Panthers’ 34-33 win against Georgetown.
