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Erin Smith|Bladen Journal USO of North Carolina Director Renee Lane addressed the Elizabethtown Rotary Club on Wednesday and discussed the services the USO provides for troops and their families.

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ELIZABETHTOWN — The Elizabethtown Rotary Club was treated to a presentation by Renee Lane, director of the Ft. Bragg Center USO, on Wednesday. She was joined by Julie Meloni.

Lane was introduced to the group by Rotarian Eddie Madden, who explained to the group how he came to meet Lane.

“Some time ago Dr. (William) Findt attended an exercise on Ft. Bragg and met Gen. Joseph Anderson,” said Madden.

He continued by saying Findt had invited Gen. Anderson to speak to the Boy Scouts about the importance of character. Madden said that it was at that event that he met Anderson and, along with Elizabethtown Mayor Sylvia Campbell, talked to Gen. Anderson about a partnership with the base.

“In a period of three weeks Gen. Anderson made two visits to Elizabethtown,” said Madden.

He added during one of those visits, Madden mentioned the 8K Wounded Warrior Run.

“Gen. Anderson said ‘I need to hook you up with Renee Lane at the USO,’” said Madden.

Lane opened her remarks by saying the USO of North Carolina’s mission is to “lift the spirits of the troops and their families.”

“It means a lot for these troops,” said Lane of the USO.

She said since 1941 USO has served 575,000 troops, active duty, National Guard, Reserve, and retirees.

“USO of North Carolina is a charter, so whatever we raise here, stays here,” said Lane.

She told the group that USO receives no funding from the state or federal government. Lane said the funding the USO receives comes from businesses, organizations and individuals.

Lane said the services provided to the troops by the USO staff and volunteers are completely free.

USO of North Carolina has 24 employees and more than 800 volunteers across the state poised to troops and their families, according to Lane. She told the group and USO of North Carolina has earned a four star charity rating from Charity Navigator and a Gold Guide Start.

Lane told the group and 92 cents of every dollar donated goes back into the USO centers.

The USO Centers in North Carolina are located at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Fayetteville Airport, Fort Bragg, Jacksonville/Camp Lejeune, Raleigh/Durham International Airport and a mobile unit.

Lane said that USO 0f North Carolina provides programming for the troops as well as their family. She said they offer such programming as care packages and rack packs for troops, support of the injured and wounded, birthday cupcakes for soldiers, phone cards, United through Reading programs, troop events, a Kidz Korner, emergency travel assistance, programs that the troops leaving the military service to prepare to transition to civilian life and programs for families to help them to adjust to having their soldier back home after a deployment.

For information abotu USO of North Carolina, visit them on the web at www.uso-nc.org.

Erin Smith can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.

By Erin Smith

erinsmith@civitasmedia.com

As Greenville prepares to welcome more than 500 state tourism leaders to the 2017 Visit NC 365 Conference, city and county leaders will reassess this area’s potential for raising its profile as a travel destination. One avenue for doing that is via the sports travel industry.

The Conference is scheduled for March 12-14, 2017, at the Greenville Convention Center.

The City Council last year toyed with the idea developing a new $12 million, multi-use sports complex. It was seen as a project that could serve area residents while drawing more travel-team tournaments — a source of tourism revenue that has seen tremendous growth during the last decade.

The Greenville Bond Advisory Committee ultimately dropped the proposed complex from projects included in a municipal bond issue that voters will consider on Nov. 3. But the notion of developing a large, multi-use sports complex remains in line with Greenville’s long recognition as a sports-friendly city. It’s an idea that should remain on the table for consideration as Greenville prepares to showcase this area’s potential for tourism growth.

Officials with the Greenville-Pitt County Convention Visitors Bureau have a long list of items that already contribute strongly to the state’s $21 billion tourism industry. Add to those billions the money that goes back into the economy from businesses and workers serving the needs of both business and recreational travelers.

Pitt County has a plethora of hunting, fishing, camping and other opportunities for exploring the coastal wilderness unique to eastern North Carolina. Greenville’s status as a hub for industry, health care and higher education make it a natural base for exploration among those who travel here for business and want to experience the region.

Another topic of discussion during Visit NC 365 Conferences, this year and next, will be the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation’s work toward a master plan for the long-awaited Mountains-to-Sea State Trail. The 1,000-mile trail will link Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains to Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the coast. Nearly two-thirds of the trail is open for use, with a portion of the “planned” section passing through Lenoir and Craven counties just south of the Pitt County border.

As important as this region’s natural resources are to anchoring the local travel industry, other avenues for attracting visitors cannot be overlooked. Cities nationwide are recognizing the tax-revenue-producing value of catering to the sports travel industry, and Greenville should continue to explore investing in that area of tourism development.

Recent editorials from North Carolina newspapers:

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Sept. 28

Wilmington (North Carolina) Star News on what people can learn from middle school gun incident:

With what we’ve witnessed in places such as Columbine and Sandy Hook, it’s no surprise that word of a gun at a school strikes horror in parents. It didn’t take long this school year for such an event to occur, as a 14-year-old girl was found to have a loaded handgun in her backpack Sept. 18 at Williston Junior High.

It’s not known what the girl’s intentions were, but for the most part, the scary incident seems to have played out about as well as we could have hoped.

Because the incident involved a juvenile and because of a plethora of student privacy laws, details on exactly what happened remain unclear, at least to the public. Law enforcement and school officials know more about what happened than they believe they are legally able to disclose.

The StarNews has continued to ask for details, but, for now, we will have to trust that officials are doing the right thing regarding the student as well as any safety procedures that may need to be revisited.

We do know that someone either knew the girl had a gun or suspected she did and got word to a sheriff’s deputy at the school. The deputy promptly and, it seems by official accounts, very calmly approached the girl and asked if she had something she wasn’t supposed to have in school. New Hanover Schools Deputy Superintendent Rick Holliday said the girl handed the deputy her backpack, which contained the gun.

We say “well done,” first to the person who did the right thing by alerting the deputy, and second to the way the deputy responded quickly and effectively without escalating the situation.

Even though the incident ended peacefully, some parents have criticized officials for not using the school’s notification system to let parents know what had happened. Even though the incident happened at 8 a.m. and was quickly diffused, some parents were upset that they heard about it first from media outlets or their children. Some said they were caught by surprise and were not prepared to talk to their children about it.

That’s a reasonable concern, and something school system officials should re-evaluate. It’s better to err on the side of over-informing parents, especially when there had been someone on campus with a gun.

Holliday said that there was no direct threat to anyone, but that seems a little Pollyannaish. When a person has a loaded gun at a school, who knows what scenario could have played out, regardless of the girl’s intentions.

Online:

http://www.starnewsonline.com

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Sept. 28

Gaston (North Carolina) Gazette on compromise budget restoring tax credit for property owners who restore historic buildings

North Carolina’s compromise budget restores the tax credits for property owners who restore historic buildings. The rest of us should be grateful.

The penny pinchers in the General Assembly had abolished North Carolina’s long-standing historic preservation tax credit in their last budget round. Local officials, preservation groups and Gov. Pat McCrory — a man not often accused of tax-and-spend liberalism — had urged the legislature to bring the tax credit back.

The new version doesn’t seem as generous as the old one, which allowed tax credits of up to 30 percent on some rehabilitation projects. The budget compromise allows up to $8 million in funding for the credits in fiscal 2016-17. Still, that’s better than what we have now, which is zilch.

As most homeowners eventually learn, old buildings cost more to keep up than new ones. In purely economic terms, it’s often more sensible just to tear down and build over.

Renovation and rehabilitation does, however, bring a lot of economic benefits. Workers get hired; property owners buy a lot of lumber, paint and other supplies. The General Assembly’s fiscal research division did the math and found that the credit would generate 2.5 times as many jobs as a tax cut.

Since 1998, the old tax credit had generated an estimated $1.6 billion investment on 2,400 historic projects scattered around the state. That amount of benefit should never have been thrown away lightly.

About the program

The historic tax credit program provides an incentive to taxpayers who contribute to the preservation of historic buildings by rehabilitating them in a way that preserves the historic character of the building while allowing for new uses.

Since 1998, 2,483 historic tax credit projects have been completed statewide, bringing $1.486 billion of private investment into North Carolina communities, boosting local economies and creating jobs while preserving communities’ historic cores and our state’s priceless historic character.

HTC projects have taken place in 90 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, from rural to suburban to urban communities.

Eligibility for this program is limited only to those historic properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The continued potential for rehabilitation projects is great, and the potential for loss of these buildings without this incentive is likewise great.

Non-economic impacts of the HTC incentive program include quality-of-life enhancements, such as the reuse of iconic neighborhood schools, downtown revitalization and affordable housing.

Cultural and heritage tourism thrive with the private preservation of “authentic” North Carolina historic buildings. Heritage tourism is a vital industry and economic driver in North Carolina.

Buildings rehabilitated with a historic tax credit are often landmark buildings in communities, and vital to the community’s identity and attractiveness to residents and visitors alike.

They build safe communities by reversing crime and blight — local investment in rehabilitating vacant or dilapidated buildings gives criminals fewer places to engage in criminal activity — be it drug transactions, arson or vandalism — and decreases ugly blight by caring for buildings that would otherwise detract from neighborhood stability and property values.

Online:

http://www.gastongazette.com/

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September 23

The News Observer of Raleigh on a lawmakers leaving NC with tangles incentives plan:

Job creation, much ballyhooed by candidate Pat McCrory when he was seeking the governorship, has been decidedly underwhelming since he and fellow Republicans took control of the legislative and executive branches of state government in 2013. (The GOP gained legislative control two years earlier.)

The problem has been that Republicans didn’t have any job creation plan except for tax cuts for the wealthy and businesses, a flashback to the failed trickle-down economics of the Reagan era. As witnessed by their debate over building an incentives package for business recruiting and extending tax breaks for specific businesses, Republicans can’t even agree on whether incentives work.

Instead, North Carolina could put money into an entrepreneurial fund to encourage professors and others with ideas for innovation to start businesses. The state could build up a rural economic development center like the one Republicans gutted. And the Commerce Department, which under the governor was supposed to form some whiz-bang, public-private business recruiting organization, could take that stalled effort and try to reorganize.

What the state is doing, or isn’t doing, will not bring businesses and jobs without those in charge having an idea about how to start the engine of job creation, and the Republican leadership doesn’t seem to have a clue. Their promises about job creation that would keep up or exceed population growth haven’t been kept.

Online:

http://www.newsobserver.com