Williamston Rotary Hears About Tax Assessment Coming

Glinda Fox (shown below), President of the Williamston Rotary acted as Master of Ceremonies for today's meeting. One of the first topics covered was planning for the coming Rotary Golf Tournament which will be held Thursday, September 18th at the Roanoke Country Club in Williamston.

Teams who are interested need to contact the Rotary to get on the schedule.




The program for the day was by Russell Overman (below), Martin County Manager. Russell explained some of the details of the coming re-evaluation that will happen to all Marin County property in the coming year. He desribed some of the consequences of the fact that some property re-evaluations were missed during the last re-evaluation during 2001. As a result the property value increase is going to be significant for those properties.




Russell also talked about he need for businesses to accept responsbility to make sure all assets are listed, and talked about some recent situations where the business failed to list property. There is a statue of limitation but it is quite long, and just getting by one year does not mean you will not have to pay the tax, and penalties, at a later date. He showed some of the new tools which are allowing the county to do a better job of finding listings that are being intentionally left off by businesses in the assumption that as in the past, it will not be caught.

There were a lot of questions and the program ran late because of the interest.

Martin County Shrimp Tees

Robersonville Country Club
Robersonville, NC
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Two Tee Times—8:30 AM and 1:30 PM

Tickets Include:
All you can eat SHRIMP and the fixins’,
$25 / Ticket
5 for $100

Purchase your tickets @
Martin County Chamber of Commerce
Clarks Pharmacy, Travel & Tourism, & Village Pharmacy
CRAIG WOOLARD BAND

Ashley Dews Smith
Executive Director
Martin County Chamber of Commerce
(P) 252-792-4131
(C0 252-412-5715
(F) 252-752-1013
martinchamber@embarqmail.com

Bill Daughtridge Receives Boy Scout Award

San Diego, California was recently home to the 2008 National Annual Meeting of the Boy Scouts of America. Rocky Mount Representative Bill Daughtridge, a member of the East Carolina Council, received the prestigious Silver Antelope Award.




Representative Daughtridge, accompanied by his wife Partha, attended the annual meeting as members of the 2008 Executive Committee from North Carolina. In a letter to the review board, Nick Boddie wrote “Bill is a man of great integrity who exemplifies the values of the Boy Scouts of America in every way.” Bill started in Scouting as a Cub Scout and later earned his Eagle Scout in Troop 11, Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He continued to serve the organization and recalls one of his fondest memories is a five-day kayak trip through four ecosystems with his Eagle Scout son, Gray, who would later guide at the Pamlico Sea Base.

The National Court of Honor annually bestows the Silver Antelope Award.

Representative Daughtridge was the only Scouter from North Carolina to receive the award. It is granted to registered Scouters of exceptional character for outstanding service to youth. Representative Daughtridge continues his involvement in Scouting as a member of the Southern Region Board, and has served as Area President, and member of the Council Charter Review Committee and Eagle Scholarship Selection Committee. He speaks to Boy Scouts across the region, is a constant encouragement to organizational leaders, and is a proponent of character development for our youth within his legislative role at the State House.

Representative Daughtridge is the Republican candidate for North Carolina State Treasurer.

Jack Sawyer Addresses Al-Pam Conservatives

This month's Al-Pam Conservative Club meeting was held inPlymouth. The speaker was Jack Sawyer, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State. This is one of the nine powerful Council of State positions that are directly elected statewide by the people of North Carolina. Who holds the office will be very critical in the coming years.





Jack Piland (shown above), Vice Chairman of Al-Pam, introducted Mr. Sawyer to the group.





Jack Sawyer (shown above) gave an excellent presentation, on the position, its importance to the people of North Carolina, and his credentials for the job.

Biotechnology In Eastern NC

Today there was an exciting meeting held in the Vernon James Research Center in Plymouth NC. The Biotechnology In Eastern NC partnership . . . between various citizen groups and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center . . . drew an excellent attendance.

Jordan Whichard, Publisher of the Greenville Daily Reflector, is Chairman of the Advisory Committee holding the meeting, and he gave welcoming comments, along with Dr. David Peele, Vice Chairman of the Committee and President of Avoca, Inc, a leading bio-tech firm from our area.






The opening presentation was made by John Chaffee (shown below), Director of the Eastern Office of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. It was titled "Where are we today? 29 Months and 29,000 miles later."







Mr. Chaffee noted that the group had been established in 2006 with 25 member advisory committee using 16 strategies and 5 action teams. There were 4 ambitious goals established;
Establish internationally recognized marine bioscience consortium (and Center of Innovation), Create a framework to develop or attract world class biotech companies to develop, grown and process crops in northeastern NC, Establish BioEast Alliance region as a premier location for biomanufacturing, Advance drug discovery and CTs.




The next presentation was by Vann Rogerson (shown above), President of the North Carolina Northeast Commission, and he spoke on "Potential for expansion of the plant biotechnology sector".




He was joined in the presentation by Nick Oberlies (shown above), Director of the Natural Products Laboratory, RTI International.

The next presentation was done by Ken Perry (left below), Operations and Facilities for Bertie County Schools, Dr. Chip Zullinger (center below), Superintendent of Bertie County Schools, and Carol Atkins (right below), Executive Director for Educational Programs of Bertie County Schools.

[An earlier article about this Ag-Science High School can be found here.]




Dr. Zullinger, with Ken and Carol's assistance, gave a presentation entitled, "Responding to the Challenge & Opportunity, An Agricultural High School." Based on the interest and enthusiasm of the people present for the topic, this was clearly the highlight presentation of the meeting.

Dr. Zullinger spoke of how his interest was tirggered by Benjie Forrest, Agriculture Education Coordinator for NC State, asking him why there was no agriculture teacher in our Bertie County High School. Bertie County is almost totally dependent on Agriculture, with 75% of our county's individuals income being derived from agriculture. This is much higher than the vast majority of North Carolina's counties. It is clearly unusual that a county like Bertie has no focus on Agriculture.

Carol atkins explained how Shaw University and NC State were assisting in putting together some thoughts on how this Ag-Science High School could be made to happen, under a program that provides a curriculum that would be a joint high school and college, with graduates getting credit for the first two years of college s they graduate from high school.

Shaw University has also brought plans to place a $5 million bio-fuels production lab to Bertie County, so that efforts can be made to work out how to move bio-fuels forward, without contributing to world hunger in the process.

The empty former Southwestern Middle School in Bertie County is a perfect location, since this school is capable of handling 900 students, and is in nearly perfect condition. Since, though empty, it is still being maintained, it really adds no costs to Bertie County to use if for this new high school.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has offered seed money to get the high school up and runnning. As noted, NC State is providing assistance with the curriculum.

Though there are some in the black community that can only see the dark side of their previous involvment in agriculture, an Ag-Science High school in a predominately black community like Bertie County seems highly appropriate since George Washington Carver was truly the inventor of ag-science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. George Washington Carver was one of the world's half dozen greatest scientists of the last century.

This will be the first ag-science high school in North Carolina, and its potential is truly awesome.





Closing remarks were made by Norris Tolson (shown above), President of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

During the meeting, one of the most interesting handouts was something that I have never received in a meeting before. It was a soil sample (shown below) . . . yes, dirt . . . from the "black lands" of our area.




Because my mother is an avid gardener, I gave it to her to use for some of her flowers. It was an interesting handout though, indicating why Eastern North Carolina has so much potential for ag-science.

Christmas Banquet Al-Pam Republican Club

The Al-Pam Republican Club's Annual Christmas Banquet was held on Thursday night at the Vernon James Center, in Plymouth, NC. For Eastern North Carolina it was a major milestone. The leaders who have organized this club are changing Eastern North Carolina politics. Who would have expected such a huge turnout of Republicans in this land of socialism and democrats.

The event was an evening full of fun, cheerfulness, and fellowship. As predicted it was a great opportunity to meet candidates from across the state.

Guests included: Bill Graham, candidate for Governor; Ginny Smith, wife of gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith; Greg Dority, candidate for Lieutenant Governor; Joe Johnson, candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction; Les Merritt, State Auditor; Bob Crumley, candidate for Attorney General; Bill Daughtridge, candidate for State Treasurer; Bob Edmonds, Supreme Court Justice; Dean Stephens, candidate for US Congress, District 1; and Joe McLaughlin, candidate for US Congress, District 3. Never in Eastern North Carolina has there been this great a turnout of Republican candidates.

The list of candidates was truly spectacular and their presentations to the attendees was extremely encourgaing. This is a group of people who represent the best of America and our state.

The featured keynote speaker for the evening was Mr. Paul Chesser. Mr. Chesser is the associate editor of the Carolina Journal. Mr. Chesser has written many articles that have appeared in the The Washington Times, The Washington Post, The Raleigh News and Observer, and The Charlotte Observer. He has been a guest on the Today Show, and many weekly radio shows.

His address entitled, "The Source of Peace in Our Time of Trouble" was inspirational and in keeping with the reality that things are looking up, for America and for the Republican Party with its themes of education, security and freedom.


For those interested in this great new organization, the Al-Pam Republican Club, or who wish to attend future events, please contact President Chris East at (252) 793-9547, (252) 793-2743, or (252) 714-6889. Mr. East can also be reached by email at al-pamrepublicanclub@hotmail.com

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Facility For North Carolina Dedicated

At 1:00 PM yesterday, North Carolina held a dedication ceremony for the two new buildings composing the Weapons of Mass Destruction center for the 42nd Civil Support Team. This is an impressive new North Carolina facility that everyone in the state and the nation is praying will never be needed. Two buildings compose the new facility, the Admin Building (below), and the Garage (second picture below).






The facility is located at the Greenville Airport. The dedication ceremony was held inside the garage where a sort of auditorium facility had been set up for the day. Invited guests (below), band (second picture below) and the 42nd Civil Support Team (third picture below) were already gathered when I arrived. The band was playing some great patriotic and marching music.






There was an area set up at the end of the facility with charts depicting significant information about the 42nd Civil Support Team and the new Weapons of Mass Destruction facility that was being dedicated to help them perform their role. The charts were very helpful (all 5 shown below).









The officials for the event entered in two groups, one group sitting in a special reserved section (shown below) and the other sitting in the area indicated as the dais (second picture below).




Present for the Ceremony were (shown above from left), Greenville Mayor, Don Parrott, State Representative Edith Warren, State Representative Marian McLawhorn, Secretary of the NC Department of Crime Control and Public Safety Brian Beatty, Major General William Ingram - Adjutant General, State Command Sergeant Major Steve Boyles, Lt Colonel Chris Johnson, Lt Colonel Danny Mills - Commander of the 42nd Civil Support Team, and First Sergeant Wayne Stroud. Not present this day was Brigadier General David L. Jennette, Jr., Army Forces Commander.

After introduction of the dignitaries, first speaker was Mayor Don Parrott.



Secretary Brian Beatty, N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety spoke about the role of the Civil Support Team and its critical nature during any event that presents the possibility that Weapons of Mass Destruction are used.



The first Military representative to speak was Lt Colonel Danny Mills, the Commander, 42nd Civil Support Team.




Keynote Speaker for the event was Major General William Ingram, Jr.





At this point, everyone adjourned outside for the ribbon cutting service itself.




The four people chosen to cut the ribbon were (from left above in both pictures) Lt Colonel Danny Mills, Major General William Ingram, Secretary Brian Beatty and Mayor Don Parrott.



There were a great number of people of interest in the group who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony. Michael Sprayberry, Deputy Director and Operations Chief of the North Carolina Department of Crime Control & Public Safety (shown on left above), Betty Jo Shepheard, Regional Director for Senator Richard Burr, Janet Bradbury, Regional Director for Senator Elizabeth Dole, and Brigadier General Bud Martin, Commanding General of the Joint Task Force.




The end of the event was an opportunity for everyone to visit with old friends and people they often talked with but rarely got to see. If it were not for the sobering topic being discussed, it would have been a great event. We all need to pray that this facility is never needed.