A slippery slope

Some well-intentioned actions by the Fremont Town Board last week concern me.
Billy Harvey, a Fremont Town Alderman, protested the potential condemnation of a home he owned that did not meet minimum housing standards. He said he never intended for anyone to live in the house; he just wanted to use it for storage.
The town board unanimously approved, if he would take some steps to bring up the outward appearances of the house, to allow Billy to do that.
Billy is a nice man. Everyone likes Billy. I like Billy. From one perspective, it seems unreasonable to ask him to spend money fixing up the inside of a house just to bring it up to certain standards.
The problem, as some people including myself see it, is what about everyone else? We can do this for Billy, but what about the guy next door to him? If he asks for the same consideration, do we treat him the same way?
Does Fremont want to say that whatever condition anyone wants to leave a house in is all right with them? Clearly that isn’t working. Some people will allow houses to deteriorate, and if the town isn’t willing to take actions against them, soon no one will want to live in a town where so many houses are falling down.
That may sound like an exaggeration, but it is a reflection of what has happened in recent years. Some areas of downtown Goldsboro and downtown Wilson are proof. Some areas of Fremont are not too different. Unless the Town Board is willing to enforce standards, the town itself will fall apart.
Some people will say they can’t afford to do the work to bring homes up to standards. If they are forced to do the work, they say, they will have to sell their homes. That’s tough. So do you say, if someone can’t afford to maintain their homes to meet a bare minimum standard, we’ll let the town go down, or will we make the tough decision?
Some people will make threats to try to get town boards to make decisions that they want. Some people will try to make town boards feel like bad guys to get their way. When it comes down to it, some who will plead and moan can and will bring their homes up to standards if forced. Clearly some cannot.
Are the best interests of the town served by being compassionate towards some people, or are the best interests of the town served by being consistent in the standards you impose? Do we endorse people's living in homes they can’t afford to maintain?
If I buy an unfit-for-living house and say I don’t want to live there, just use it for storage, as long as I keep the outside looking decent, does that fit? Should I be expected and understand on the front end that owning a house in Fremont means I will maintain it to a decent level? I believe that reflects what Fremont expects and deserves.
Again, these are not bad people on the town board who made this decision last week. If I had been sitting in one of their chairs, I’m not saying for sure that I would have made another decision. But I think I would have, as they should have.
If they took Billy’s face and name off the request, and if they instead put someone who they didn’t particularly like in place of Billy, and could still say this is the right thing to do, then fine. I don’t think they can justify it as the right thing for Fremont.
That’s what sitting on the town board is about, and particularly what zoning and planning board issues are about: treating everyone the same, like them or not.

Thanks, Eddie

Over the last 25 years that I have spend in eastern North Carolina, and especially in Wayne and Johnston counties, I have come to know many men who have served our small towns as police chief. I rank Princeton Police Chief Eddie Lewis at the top of the list.
While there has been some controversy surrounding raises for the police department, that controversy may be seen as a lack of support for Eddie, whether intentional or not. I rise to say how much I support and appreciate him.
For most of that time, Eddie has served as a police officer in Pikeville, and in recent years in Princeton.
I’m afraid some may judge him too much by appearances. No, he is no slim, trim crime-fighting machine on the outside. When he speaks, he sounds more like the country boy he was raised to be, than the community-college law enforcement instructor that he is.
Eddie brings rather unique experiences and perspectives to the position. Princeton is fortunate to have him.
As one who was raised down the road in Pikeville, he understands the people of the area. He has enough perspective, still living in that direction, to maintain a professional attitude about the people and the area he serves.
His experience in Pikeville gives him an appreciation for the workings of a small town police department, and as former chief in Pikeville, the concerns of the town board he reports to.
He has heard enough people complain about taxes and utility rates to understand why the town board may have a hard time funding the requests that police departments make of town budgets. He understands that, though some would not.
Eddie’s got enough old farmer in him to keep equipment operating with bailing wire until the town budget can come through with money for a much-needed replacement. He understands that, though some would not.
He was around in a time when policemen weren't required to have formal training, but he believes in being properly trained to do the work.
While training has been an unexpected blessing for Eddie, opening a door for him to work at Wayne Community College and Johnston Community College as an instructor, it has also been a blessing for the town. It gives him an opportunity to come to know and even recruit prospective officers for the town.
More than that, it helps give him an even greater appreciation for the problems and concerns of a young officer, often on duty by themselves in the middle of the night, trying to offer protection for the sleeping citizens. I personally would like to have someone with a great appreciation for the problems that young officer will face, as their teacher and mentor.
He also understands the pitfalls for those same young officers, where they are likely to fall into bad habits, particularly without feedback and supervision that are often lacking in small town departments. I believe Eddie is doing a good job of trying to address those needs. He understands, while some would not.
Police officers are often targets for criticism. If they don’t recover your stolen property they are criticized. Some may criticize for “allowing” their stuff to be stolen in the first place. Some may see drugs as a police problem rather than a societal problem.
Others will criticize the police for too aggressively enforcing the law when they or theirs are arrested or cited.
I’m sure that Eddie Lewis is not perfect, but when you look at all of the good things he brings to law enforcement to the Town of Princeton, we are fortunate to have him as our police chief.
I know it’s regarded as a thankless job by many, but I’m one who will take the time to say “Thank you for all you do, Eddie.”

The art of courtesy

The Methodist Church, or more properly the United Methodist Church, held their annual meeting last week in Greenville. As an officer in the men’s ministry in the church, I am supposed to attend. As one who likes talking to people and would rather not sit and listen to others (judge that as you will), it is a bit of a struggle for me to sit for most of three days.
Our presiding officer at these meetings, and we call it holy conferencing, is our Bishop, Rev. Al Gwinn. We vote on budgets and resolutions and where the next Annual Conference will be held. We have a number of worship services, a retirement service, a commissioning service, and we celebrate Holy Communion.
This year we elected delegates to an upcoming Southeast regional meeting, and to a national meeting. Yours truly did get elected as a regional delegate (that’s another story).
I say all of that to tell you there is a lot of business that properly comes along with affirming we are people of God and seeking His will in our lives and in the work of the church.
While I would say, as you would hope, we are a pretty tame group overall, we are people of passion. We can and will speak ardently on topics, and sometimes, you could argue, our passion overrules our good sense and maybe even our Holy Compass. Our humanity may get in the way of our holiness. Most of the time I think we hold on to the right things.
The way in which the business of our church, at this level, is run, clergy and laity have virtually equal voice. As you may understand and expect, some of our clergy, and occasionally, some of our laity, may push along the extremes.
We debated a resolution which, from my perspective, might have been drafted by the Democratic Party (I know we have Democrats and Republicans among our group). The resolution was critical of the administration's actions during the current conflict, condemning the president and his administration. While as Christians we oppose war and we pray for our enemies, and I affirm that, I felt the resolution went too far. With passionate speeches on both sides of the debate on the issue, we ended up defeating that resolution but did adopt a more moderate resolution.
Again, presiding over all of this was our Bishop.
I have had the honor and pleasure of serving on a number of committees with our Bishop and have met with him individually on occasion. He is a man of passion and vision and he has advocated moving our church in a number of important and sometimes controversial areas. I say controversial, not so much from a liberal theology perspective, but because our church can grow fat and lazy. We like who we are and we don’t particularly like someone coming in and suggesting we need to get up off our good intentions if we are going to fulfill our role as the church in the community. I (we) need to hear that and I appreciate his Holy nudges.
I have also been in a meeting where he went into the lion's den, a church meeting where the church members were angry at him over a decision he made. There were some ugly things said and disrespectful things said. I was amazed at the way in which he acknowledged every comment and affirmed those which were appropriate. He was courteous to some people who were not always courteous to him.
Last week, in a long period, I saw the exhaustion of the three days begin to take a toll on many, including the Bishop. I was amazed at how well he held on to the courtesy he extended to all in trying to move us along on our business. With a number of things on the agenda, and we did get behind on our agenda at times, he encouraged us to keep things brief at times, and there were times that things were controversial.
All of us have been in meetings where parliamentary procedure was used against someone. He stated it early and practiced it many times, when someone would want to make a motion or amendment that was not proper or at the proper time, some of which he probably didn’t agree with. The Bishop helped speakers find the proper means, or came back to them at the proper time. He acknowledged those who were trying to be helpful but who were violating the rules under which we operate.
It took some considerable effort and caring. It was inspiring.
In contrast, I went to a local board meeting Monday night. I know those there, and particularly the presiding officer, were not intentionally discourteous, and it was a contentious meeting, with lengthy debates. But I couldn’t help but wish the Bishop had been there.
Maybe most of us could be more courteous.

Compromise and commitment

I don’t think any of the Princeton Town Board members, nor town employees, came away with the budget they wanted when they went into the budget meeting Monday night. I hope they will live with commitment to what they came away with.
Too often on town budgets, town employees come out the loser. While I know employees were certainly disappointed, I don’t believe that town board members were insensitive to their needs. I hope town employees will recognize that.
There was a philosophical debate, voiced primarily by Commissioner Walter Martin and Mayor Don Rains, over continuing to build funding for improvements around town as opposed to trying to provide relief for water and sewer rates respectively. The rest of the board ultimately agreed with Mayor Rains. While I can argue both sides of this issue, I believe the town will ultimately benefit from the decision to cut rates.
In arguing his case, the mayor said the town was going through a transition period when annexation and growing efficiencies would ease some pressure on the town budget. In some other words, town employees would get more of what they wanted next year. I hope the town board is committed to that.
The bigger debate was over pay, primarily for police officers and secondarily, the rest of the town staff. Mr. Martin could say he again came out the loser as he argued passionately for maintaining merit pay increases in the budget. I would say that the passage of a 4% pay adjustment was a reflection of his arguments for increased pay for the town staff.
In turning down merit increases again this year, there was much discussion on the need to fix the merit pay system. Mr. Martin argued, from my perspective correctly, that deserving employees should not be paid less because of a flawed merit pay system that the town board put in place.
I heard a commitment to fix the system. I know town employees deserve a merit pay system. Again, a 4% pay adjustment is a recognition that town employees deserve more than they are getting now. I hope the town board is committed to following through on fixing the system.
From a longer term perspective, I remember town boards who seemingly every year based pay on what was left over in the budget. If there had to be a tax increase, usually to cover other expenses, the employees might get an increase. Or if things had gone very good budget wise this year, there might be enough money left to give the employees an increase. Too often the board with long faces would lamely offer they would pay an increase if they could, but there just wasn’t any money left. If there was a pay increase, it usually was across-the-board, as the board wasn’t professional enough to evaluate employees and base pay increases on merit.
While I think most would agree there is more work to do to bring pay into line, the Princeton Town Board in recent years has been more professional in their dealing with the pay issue. I trust that will continue.
Perhaps forgotten by some, since it wasn’t part of the late debate, was the transition to a town administrator. This may be the biggest compromise and commitment of them all. It may be the biggest test of commitment for the town board.
With the tendency of us all to micro-manage, to go in and tell people how to do their jobs, this change in town government represents the town board backing off and allowing trained professionals to make the day-to-day decisions for the town. I hope this commitment holds, to endorse the town administrator, and board members reminded themselves of this Monday night, so they are mindful of the importance.
While Marla Ashworth is new to the position and the politics that surround it, and the board may have some problems letting go, I hope with an attitude of cooperation and charity, Mrs. Ashworth and the town board can move forward and make this work.
There is also a commitment to Police Chief Eddie Lewis. The board needs to stand behind his leadership of the police department. Some will always question what the police does, and if there are questions that can’t be answered satisfactorily, then changes need to be made. I don’t think that some appreciate how good a leader he is for the town.
I believe the town board made some difficult decisions and brought some relief for taxpayers and bill payers. While town employees didn’t get all they wanted, and some believe deserved, the budget did make some movement in the right direction.
I hope a spirit of compromise holds to move the town forward. I hope a spirit of commitment holds to make things right.

Ordinary men doing the extraordinary

I had the privilege (and responsibility) of going to both the Princeton and Aycock baseball state championship series over the weekend. In case you were away on Mars over the weekend and didn’t hear, they both won.
I’ve also been, as some of you may have noted, working a lot of baseball games in recent weeks since we have made some staff changes. It’s been fun and I’ve come to know both teams to some extent.
I was talking with a writer from the Wilson Daily Times Saturday during the Aycock game, and the Beddingfield graduate mentioned that he went to school with both Aycock Coach Charles Davis and Princeton Coach Bruce Proctor. The two coaches grew up in the same area, through Charles is a few years older.
There are a lot of similarities between the two teams. Like most good high school teams, they start out with strong pitching. Both play good strong defense. Both teams have hitters who can pound the ball, and they can run up the score on teams, but both teams have run up on pitchers who gave their hitters problems.
Aycock has two pitchers who have already signed to play at Carolina and State, an indication of how highly regarded they are. They are two fine ballplayers, and although they can be dominating, another player, Jay Rose, was tapped as the MVP for that series.
I could argue that Ryan Daughtry is the best pure athlete on the Princeton team, and he was named MVP for their series. But during the year, a number of other players stepped up to make the big play and win games for Princeton through the year.
The point is the success of both teams was not based on one or two particular athletes, but as you would hope, both had rosters full of guys who had the confidence to, at the right time, step up and make the play that could win the game. Neither team went undefeated; both lost games late in the playoffs, in the East Finals for Aycock, and in the State Championships for Princeton. However, both had players who made the plays they needed to ultimately win.
A couple of former players who help coach also stand out to me. Allen Thomas, who is Charles’s brother-in-law, helps coach Aycock. Justin Willoughby, who was an outstanding pitcher in his day for the Bulldogs, is a key part of Bruce’s staff.
Friday afternoon, the Princeton game got particularly tight. The score was tied in the top of the sixth if I remember correctly, runner on first and potential winning run on second. It was one of those times when things could clearly have broken in East Surry’s favor.
I was watching through my camera lens as Justin went from the dugout to the mound with the knot in my stomach getting tighter, and he was grinning from ear to ear. As I was to learn later, he said something flippant to the infield gathered around their pitcher about how good he must look to get that kind of applause coming out of the dugout. The infielders broke out in matching smiles, and some of that tension must have eased.
Despite giving up a walk to the batter who was up, Daughtry got out of the inning without a run scoring, and Princeton went on to win the game.
I heard Princeton Assistant Principal Michael Price speak to the graduates Sunday morning at a church breakfast. In a reference to the recent movie, “Facing the Giants,” he said after Princeton’s win he was penning a screenplay to be entitled “Facing the (East Surry) Cardinals.”
That’s not a bad idea. We draw inspiration for living from stories like “Remember the Titans,” “Hoosiers,” and “Rudy.” The assistant principal made references to how he tried to offer words of inspiration to the team, and how they responded.
I met a man in Goldston Saturday night. He will be leading a group of volunteers going to Mississippi this month to build a church on the still suffering Gulf Coast. Their team of maybe 100 people will completely build that church during their week there. They have accomplished similar feats over the past eight years.
That group has adopted a slogan: ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things. Their success has drawn others to their ministry. You might say the supernatural power they have displayed is attractive.
I think there’s a great story in our ball teams. I know you parents may see yours as extraordinary, but I see some kids who in some ways are not that much better than others fine kids playing in other uniforms, doing some extraordinary things. Like winning a state championship.
Congratulations on an extraordinary season.

Like Mama’s cookin’

I went on a men’s retreat to the mountains of western North Carolina over the weekend. Like many other areas of North Carolina, there are many older people around Hayesville who are struggling economically. Ironically, there are many wealthy people who have bought homes, many of those second homes, in the area as well. We were just above Lake Chatuge, and even early Sunday morning you could hear the hum of power boats and jet skis of the well-heeled skimming across the water.
This was a Christian retreat center we were using, Hinton Rural Life Center, and during much of this summer, youths will be staying in the bedrooms at night and by day doing work projects to help many of the needy families in the area.
The retreat center offers basic skills employment to make a little dent in the poverty in the area. They also utilize volunteers to help keep their own costs down.
Being a bit of an early morning person, I came downstairs to the kitchen and dining room in the wee hours searching for coffee and was surprised to find the cooks enjoying some coffee. It was a couple of hours before breakfast. I have worked cooking breakfast before at a coffee shop, and the prep cook didn’t come in until an hour or so before we opened. There was a reason they were here this early.
The long braided hair of one of the cooks caught my eye. I suspect her hair would stretch down to her waist. There was noticeable contrast between the cook and the helper, one a local and the other was probably a transplanted volunteer.
The coffee was good, as you would expect. What I didn’t expect was what we got a couple of hours later.
Where I worked more than a few years ago, we served the regular bacon, sausage, ham and eggs, and pancakes. Times have changed, and many places serve biscuits, usually stuffed with whatever, often served through the drive-thru. I have little doubt that the ladies were there that early to make biscuits.
That wasn’t what impressed me, though. As we went through the cafeteria line, almost every plate had a biscuit opened up with sausage gravy ladled over it.
While there wasn’t anyone there who I would label as fat, most of us had a little more hanging over our belt than we need and probably would admit more than we’d like to have. Still, the lure of sausage gravy was a temptation I would not resist.
My mind immediately jumped to Mama. Breakfast was one of those special meals around our house while I was growing up. Yes, I usually had cereal in the morning, but on special Saturdays and Sundays, Mama would fix bacon and eggs. Daddy particularly liked his eggs basted, with the bacon grease pushed over the top of the egg with a spatula until the white got almost lacy. Mama sometimes spoiled Daddy.
I don’t care much for mashed potatoes. As things have developed, while we have baked potatoes at home and when we go out, I rather like sweet potatoes, usually with the butter and cinnamon and sugar. I think we often start out with a pretty healthy eating and figure out a way to make it gum up the capillaries. We don’t have mashed potatoes at home. Boiling and mashing is too much work, and maybe we think we’re too good for instant potatoes. Besides, in my book, mashed potatoes without cream gravy is hardly worth it.
Mama’s chicken-fried steak was particularly worth it. It always meant mashed potatoes and it always meant cream gravy to ladle over the steak and potatoes.
One of the things that I learned early in marriage was not to dwell on how much better Mama’s cooking was when at the dinner table. Even thirty years ago, we recognized if Marilyn served what our mamas served, we would have to get bigger doors in our apartments.
Most of the fellows there were raised in the country. As I surveyed them, most acknowledged that their mamas would cook big country breakfasts with sausage gravy, but their wives didn’t. To savor the flavor of their youth, they put their good habits of cholesterol watching and calorie counting on holiday.
I suspect most are like me, as we get on the scales on Monday morning: asking for forgiveness for our sins, even as we thank God for a sweet taste of home.