All hands on deck for NC schools

Dr. Travis Reeves, Surry County Schools Superintendent, said the county has needs for substitute teachers, child nutrition staff, and custodians. Interested state employees can now use volunteer hours to assist in schools short on staff.

Kindergarten students participate in a classroom activity on the first day of in-person learning. Gov. Roy Cooper wants to keep NC students in the classroom as much as possible. “It is critical that we keep children learning in the classroom safely,” said Gov. Cooper. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Across the state, local school board and individual schools have been scrambling to meet the needs of students in unexpected ways. Gov. Roy Cooper joined in when he announced last week a new plan that would encourage state employees to assist in public schools decimated by staffing shortages.

With the ongoing surge of omicron, K-12 school districts across the state are experiencing staff shortages due to the increase of staff having to isolate or quarantine. Cooper’s plan will allow state employees to use volunteer days to work in North Carolina public schools as substitute teachers, bus drivers and cafeteria staff.

“Our district has faced this problem since the beginning of the school year and the return from winter break in the midst of the Omicron surge has amplified staffing challenges,” Dr. Travis Reeves, Surry County Schools Superintendent said. “So, the district welcomes any policy that can help fill these crucial positions during this time of acute need.”

School districts have experienced a far greater need for substitutes, bus drivers, cafeteria, facilities, and support personnel who can fill in for employees. Absenteeism is up for employees who are out with the virus, and with omicron’s widespread reach there has been an increased emphasis on quarantine and isolation to prevent further infections.

Breakthrough contaminations, reinfections of COVID for those who have had their vaccinations or have had and recovered from the virus, are on the rise across the country. The prevailing wisdom remains that having a vaccination and booster does offer greater protection than having none. Some though who had an early bout with the virus have now gotten sick with either delta or omicron, as the variants are constantly looking for ways to mutate and vector in new directions.

Therefore, isolating those who are confirmed to have COVID, and quarantining those who may have had exposure, remain critical components in staving off the pandemic. With masking and testing requirements in place for school system employees, it may be safer for kids to be in a controlled and supervised environment than at home.

Schools are more than a place for kids to learn. They are also safe places to be while their parents are working, and they support kids’ physical, mental, social, and emotional health. Parents and educators alike are desperate to minimize any additional missed classroom time for students at every level, and the governor is in agreement.

“It is critical that we keep children learning in the classroom safely,” said Gov. Cooper. “This policy will encourage state employees to lend a helping hand to our students at a time of severe staffing challenges for our public schools.”

The State Human Resource Commission’s Community Service Leave Policy currently states that full-time state employees are eligible for 24 hours of paid community service leave each calendar year. With approval from their supervisor, employees are encouraged to take part in efforts that would help in their community.

To drive participation in this limited time change to state policy, this new initiative is running through February 15, the Cooper administration is now allowing for the training time to be included as part of the paid volunteer off hours.

Furthermore, state employees had previously been restricted from using volunteer hours and then accepting the stipend. Now, under the updated policy, state employees are also eligible to use community service leave for volunteer activities, regardless of whether they are paid for their service

“Requiring people to decline their stipend would discourage state employees from meeting the current, urgent need for substitute teachers, bus drivers, and cafeteria staff in the schools,” the state human resources memo reads. “Moreover, many substitute teachers must pay out-of-pocket for mandatory training sessions, and the stipend pay for substitute teachers will work to compensate for this training expense.”

The benevolence of state employees is being called on during a most challenging staffing time. Creating an easier pathway to get additional assistance into schools is a welcome development for educators.

“Surry County Schools appreciates officials at the state level for recognizing the challenges facing public schools while we work to keep our students learning in a face-to-face environment with our educators,” Dr. Reeves said.

The goal for Gov. Cooper is to limit the further impact to students’ learning after a prolonged period of challenges and changes to and from remote learning. Parents across the state also had to quickly change gears as the virus created a need for an army of homeschool experts, seemingly overnight.

“State employees always step up to help our state in challenging times and this policy gives our talented employees yet another way to serve their communities,” said State Human Resources Director Barbara Gibson.

Dr. Reeves made specific note that Surry County Schools have a need for substitute teachers, child nutrition staff, and custodians.

If you are a state employee and would like to know more about how you can get involved volunteering in Surry County Schools, through community service leave, please contact Mr. Kevin Via, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources at (336) 386-8211 or viak@surry.k12.nc.us.

Hearing set Thursday on rooming house rules

Chris Bevin joins Nester Hosiery executive team

The forces of fate have conspired to curtail a 13th-annual event that was to kick off the next United Fund of Surry campaign, and while that proverbially unlucky number is involved the cancellation isn’t founded in superstition.

Boy Scout Troop 553 of White Plains will be conducting an extra Scouting for Food effort on Saturday, hoping to help area food banks that are running low on supplies.

A six-month freeze on filling 14 vacancies on the city government payroll could end up being longer, even permanent, under money-saving measures being considered by Mount Airy officials amid the coronavirus crisis.

Authorities have released the name and cause of death of a man found earlier this week dead while sitting on a lawnmower, and a second man — identified as a “person of interest” in the shooting, is now dead.

Deputies with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office initially responded in the case at 1:18 p.m. Monday to a house in the 600 block of Golf Course Road in Pilot Mountain. There they found Vincent Lee Bray, 65, dead from an apparent gunshot according to Surry County Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt.

Working with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, officials ruled the death a homicide, and identified Michael (Mike) Patrick Alford, 71, of 657 Golf Course Road, Pilot Mountain as “a person of interest,” the sheriff said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.

“It appears that Mr. Bray and Mr. Alford had a history of disagreements dating back years,” the sheriff said. “Investigators interviewed Mr. Alford on May 9…in the evening hours pertaining to the incident. Mr. Alford abruptly concluded the interview with investigators and left walking from the Surry County Sheriff’s Office,” the sheriff said.

The next day Alford’s wife, Debra Alford, reported her husband missing, saying she had not spoken to him since his Monday night interview with the sheriff’s office.

On Wednesday, the sheriff said his office received a call about “a possible suicide incident” in the 400 block of Shoals Road, Pinnacle. There deputies arrived on the scene to find Michael Alford in an open field, dead from “an apparent self-inflected gunshot wound.”

The investigation is still active, the sheriff said, adding that no additional information will be released “at this time.”

A murder will take place this weekend on Jones School Road in Mount Airy — not really, just make-believe as part of a production to benefit the historic facility where it will be held.

This involves the staging of a play titled “Lights! Camera! Murder!” in L.H. Jones Auditorium on the grounds of the former Jones School and present community resource center in the northern part of town.

A local drama club, The Good Time Players, is putting on the production for which shows are scheduled Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Proceeds from the performances will benefit the J.J. Jones Alumni Association, which owns the former school auditorium that is now used for various community events. It operates separately from other parts of the old campus long owned by the county government, with the funds raised to go toward the ongoing maintenance of the auditorium.

“I am in the play,” Alumni Association President Nancy Bowman Williams said.

“Lights! Camera! Murder!” — described as a comedy murder mystery — has about 10 cast members altogether. The plot concerns the slaying of the leading man in a detective movie and efforts to unmask his killer. The story is set in the 1940s.

Tammy Denny of The Good Time Players Drama Club is the play’s director. That group is known for its staging of productions as fundraisers for worthy causes, with Denny involved for several years.

The doors open at 6 p.m. Friday for the first of the three “Lights! Camera! Murder!” presentations, with the play starting at 7 p.m. The audience will be seated at tables.

On Saturday night, the same schedule will be observed for a dinner theater event. “Saturday is a sellout,” Williams said of a 100-plate limit imposed by the caterer for the evening.

However, space will be found around the auditorium then for those who simply want to watch the play with no meal included. “We’re not going to turn anybody away,” the Alumni Association president said.

A matinee is planned Sunday afternoon, when the doors will open at 2 p.m. for a 3 o’clock show.

Organizers say a “dessert-theater” setup will be in place Friday night and Sunday afternoon, for which tickets were still available at last report.

The cost is $20 per person all three days, with those interested in attending asked to show up at the door.

Unlike some community theater productions that include several weeks of rehearsals, the local staging of “Lights! Camera! Murder!” has involved a much longer undertaking.

Rehearsals actually began in June 2021 for shows that originally were to be held much earlier than now.

“And COVID happened,” Williams explained.

Recent city government debates over outdoor dining/alcohol consumption in downtown Mount Airy are continuing with one councilman’s charges that Mayor Ron Niland has acted improperly regarding that issue.

This includes Niland’s handling of an attempt by Commissioner Jon Cawley — during an April 21 council meeting — to have an earlier vote by the group relaxing that activity rescinded. That was followed by the mayor later saying he didn’t recall key details about it during the commissioners’ last meeting a week ago.

A question has been left in Cawley’s mind about whether Niland deliberately circumvented a board vote on a related motion presented by Cawley on April 21, and what role the apparent memory lapse played.

“It was either incompetence or deceit,” the North Ward commissioner said Tuesday. “And neither one is acceptable.”

For his part, the mayor is defending his involvement surrounding the commissioners’ April 7 vote allowing any “food and beverage” establishment downtown to offer outside dining — including serving beer and wine — and that action’s aftermath.

“Everything I’ve done has been fair and open,” Niland said Tuesday afternoon.

And on Wednesday morning, the mayor addressed Cawley’s “incompetence or deceit” remarks in particular:

“I am saddened that my colleague would feel this way — and the comment is beneath the office he holds,” Niland countered.

He declined to elaborate on those criticisms at length.

“I refuse to comment further on these hateful accusations,” the mayor added. “I would not want to dignify those comments.”

This verbal barrage has come to a boil just days before Niland and Cawley square off in a primary election next Tuesday which features a three-way battle also including a former commissioner, Teresa Lewis. The two receiving the most votes then will go head to head in the general election in November.

But the seeds for the dispute were sown on April 7, when the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 — with Cawley dissenting — to expand opportunities for downtown businesses to offer outside dining/drinking, limited previously to restaurants.

His main bone of contention was the use of the word “plaza” numerous times in a revised city ordinance, which Cawley believes could allow alcohol consumption in Jack A. Loftis Plaza, a public rest area.

A wine shop called Uncorked is located next door to that facility, which was seen being marked with a tape measure that Cawley has said was done to prepare for a hole to be made in Uncorked’s wall to accommodate a serving window.

In seeking to have the April 7 action rescinded, or undone, when the board next met on April 21, Cawley expressed the belief that fellow commissioners weren’t fully aware of its implications — which some vehemently denied.

When Cawley made a motion on April 21 to rescind the decision, the mayor — who presides over council meetings — said the motion would have to be seconded in order for it to come to a vote.

However, Cawley says this was not required per new parliamentary procedure rules adopted by city officials several years ago, which don’t require seconds to motions. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, the longtime standard by which most governmental bodies operate including Mount Airy previously, a second would have been needed.

An air of confusion permeated the April 21 meeting, which City Attorney Hugh Campbell was absent from, with uncertainty expressed about exactly how to handle the rescinding attempt and an outright crackdown on drinking in public spaces suggested by Commissioner Tom Koch.

And when the next meeting rolled around last Thursday, Niland did not recall asking for a second on Cawley’s April 21 motion.

“Mayor, you called for a second on my motion,” Cawley replied in an authoritative tone.

Niland took an apologetic stance at last week’s meeting in his closing comments ending the session.

The mayor emphasized that he was not trying to be unfair to Cawley.

“If I made a mistake, I apologize,” Niland said. “It was not intentional.”

Fast-forwarding to this week, Cawley is of the opinion that Niland’s asking for a second on April was possibly an attempt by the mayor to avoid a vote on his motion.

“It kept the vote off the record,” Cawley said, explaining that this could become an issue down the road if problems result from expanding outside dining regulations — while knowing fully his motion would’ve been defeated.

The North Ward representative is particularly incensed that Niland seemed emphatic in his denial during last week’s meeting that the motion had been made and he called for the second.

“And he was wrong on both of them,” Cawley continued. “He says I didn’t make a motion — which I did — and he didn’t call for the second — which he did.”

Cawley said it is difficult for him to conceive that Niland expressed no recollection of such details regarding a matter that had been vigorously debated by the board.

Niland now is acknowledging that Cawley did indeed formally seek to have the April 7 decision undone on April 21. “I’m sure the motion took place.”

But the mayor denied any move on his part to keep a decision off the books, as Cawley is alleging.

“Nothing’s further from the truth,” Niland said Tuesday. “Absolutely not.”

The mayor also says that Cawley had every opportunity on April 21 to make the case that no second was needed for his motion and a subsequent vote.

Cawley said this week that he does not know exactly where Niland was coming from on the issue. “I can’t speak for his intentions.”

But the veteran councilman is concerned about how other city government business might be handled in the future, judging by recent events.

“The issue is now, how are we doing things?”

Some people tried to outrun the rain, some people tried to hide from the rain, and more than a few outsmarted the rain and brought an umbrella — a wise move. No one wanted to walk away because raindrops kept falling on their head. After having been uprooted by COVID last year, a little precipitation was not going to dampen the spirits of Budbreak.

Mother Nature had some plans for the day, she had earlier made Mayfest a damp affair, but the folks who wanted to come out to support Budbreak and sample the wares from local breweries and vineyards are a hearty sort. With cloudy skies that gave way to drizzle and at times more precipitation than some would have liked, organizer Bob Meinecke said the weather had “very little impact as we had people paying to come in as late as 5 p.m.”

Being so close to the event, Meinecke said it is hard for an accurate estimate to be made on the turnout or the proceeds. “Can’t really go there yet. Too many moving parts,” he said. When the dust settles though the results of Budbreak’s return to spring “should be in excess of $20,000.”

While it may fall short of the mark set last year, that is a haul the Rotarians will be happy to accept. When it comes to groups such as the Mount Airy Rotary, they will never achieve a magic donation number level where they say, “Enough, we’re done.”

Even a Budbreak that did not make as much as the last one is still a great success. People in this community will benefit from the hard work of the men and women who organized and staffed the event.

With the rain, it begs the question if this is the sort of event that may be better inside. The plan for the proposed Spencer’s Mill project downtown contains a visitor’s and convention center that seems like it would be tailor-made for an event such as Budbreak. The Greensboro Coliseum is an annual host to a similar beer and wine event, and the capacity of such a venue no doubt leads to some serious donations for the Animal Rescue and Foster Program, their charitable partner.

Meinecke said he did not think the new convention center would or should take the place of having Budbreak out in the open.

“It needs to remain as an outdoor event. We like our location and because we rely heavily on logistical help from Old North State, we don’t see moving to another location,” he said. Given the street fair atmosphere, the music pumping from the stage in the parking lot between Brannock & Hiattt and Old North State, and the added bonus of overflow dancers from the Cinco de Mayo festivities at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History there was a lot to take in.

Main Street in Mayberry took a short trip south of the border for a few minutes as the dancers formed a circle in traditional garb. Some in the crowd stopped in their tracks as they were unaware there was a Cinco de Mayo event ongoing as well. “Now, this is different,” Jon Rawls of Hickory said. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

From inside businesses faces popped out of doorways and necks craned for a view as the dancers began while a drummer beat the rhythm.

Old favorite breweries and wineries come back year after year, it is that continuity that Meinecke says many are looking for. Not one to play favorites with the vendors of the event he so carefully helped to organize, he diplomatically deflected when speaking of his favorite wine. “Because drinking pallets vary so much, we make sure there is a broad range to choose from. There is a slight leaning toward sweeter wines.”

The vendors kept the commemorative tasting glasses full, and some long lines at certain tables may have told the tale of which were the favorites. Sue Brownfield reported back that she sold lots of wine and had spoken to happy vendors.

Meinecke was upbeat as always in offering the report from this year’s Budbreak. “There is always lots of events to compete with. We stand out and by all account reached our expectations.”

The most crowded race facing city voters this spring is in the North Ward, where four candidates are seeking to fill the seat now held by mayoral candidate Jon Cawley. After the May 17 primary, the first- and second-place winners will then go head to head in the non-partisan municipal election next November. Each person in the race responded to the same set of questions designed to help voters learn about their backgrounds and positions on key issues to make informed choices. Listed in alphabetical order, the candidates and responses include those of:

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: I am Chad Hutchens, 45 years old, who has have been a sworn law enforcement officer for more than 24 years. I am presently a sergeant with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office in the School Resource Officer Division.

I have been employed with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office for about 22 years. Before that, I was an officer with the Mount Airy Police Department.

I obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from Columbia Southern University and a master’s degree in criminal justice/public administration degree from Liberty University. I received my Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) certification from Surry Community College in 1997. In January of 1998, I began as an officer with the Mount Airy Police Department. In July 1999, I was hired by the Surry County Sheriff’s office as a school resource officer and in May 2007, received my Advanced Law Enforcement Certificate. In July 2009, I was promoted to the Criminal Investigations Division as a detective.

In July 2014, I had the opportunity to return to the School Resource Officer Division of the Surry County Sheriff’s Office. In July 2019, I was promoted to sergeant of that unit. I serve as a liaison between the Surry County Schools and Surry County Sheriff’s Office. I encourage preventative measures for safety, instruct drug-awareness programs and lead a team of great officers.

In addition to having attended numerous schools at the federal, state and local levels, I have completed training in technology-facilitated crimes against children and protecting children online, presented by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

I have been a public service advocate involved with various organizations in our community. I have served with the Mount Airy Rescue Squad, Surry County Emergency Services, Surry County E-911 Communications, United Fund of Surry, Fraternal Order of Police and Boy Scouts of America. I have received the National Jefferson Award for my contributions through public and volunteer community service.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as a city commissioner?

Answer: I am running for city commissioner because the great citizens of Mount Airy have made a difference in my own life, and I know that we can continue to make a difference for all citizens in our community. As a public servant, I have had the opportunity to help and influence the lives of the citizens who we are so grateful to serve. I will continue to bring my passion and experience to help everyone within our great community.

I also am seeking office because I have a passion for helping others, and I was raised to believe that community service is a noble exercise of our freedom. However, I also believe that community service must be done for the right reasons. It should be viewed as a personal commitment to better our community, not as a means of personal gratification.

Educated in public administration, I understand the policy issues facing our city. As a public employee myself, I also understand the challenges of providing superior public service.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing Mount Airy and how will you address them?

Answer: (1) Economic development and (2) community development.

We should strive to promote Mount Airy and our city merchants. We must also balance business development with quality of life. Infrastructure is a subject matter that needs our attention. We should assess our needs and address the issues of aging and outdated water and sewer lines. Recreation is essential to the growth and development of our community. We need to ensure that we have adequate facilities for our citizens to safely enjoy and promote the health and well-being of everyone.

We need a citizens-driven approach to government. Citizens should be at the forefront, as they best understand our city’s dynamics, cultures and history. We need to have citizens involved in identifying issues and measuring performance. We should be encouraging citizen participation and working to develop partnerships among our citizens. Buy-in and participation are of great importance, as our citizens are the stakeholders of our community.

The bottom line is that I care about Mount Airy, and I care about working hard for you. The critical issues to you are those same issues that are important to me.

I will work to grow our community while also preserving our small-town charisma.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: I have developed many useful skills through my education and life experience as a law enforcement officer and community volunteer. I have experience ranging from policy regulations to strategic planning. I have a positive track record in leadership as both a volunteer and paid public service professional. I understand that there are different perspectives on issues in the city regarding regulations for financial and fiscal management. I have always been focused on those we serve and their families. I will always strive to represent the public’s best interests, and I am committed to that priority.

I genuinely love Mount Airy. I sincerely appreciate its beauty, charm, history, award-winning schools and all our city activities and events. I have been an active member of our community through volunteer public service and serving as a law enforcement professional.

I have been involved with the Mount Airy Rescue Squad for the past 27 years, with which I have served as a member, chief and now as a board member. I have the confidence and support of our great sheriff, Steve Hiatt, in serving as a sergeant supervising our School Resource Officer and DARE officer unit. I have served with numerous service organizations such as the North Carolina High School Athletic Association; the Boy Scouts of America, of which I am an Eagle Scout; and the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: My name is Teresa Davis Leiva. I am 37 years old. My husband, Carlos, is a software developer by profession and we have two children who attend Mount Airy City Schools. I grew up just outside the city limits in Sheltontown and graduated from Mount Airy High School in 2002. I work as an advocate for high-risk children at Jones Intermediate and Mount Airy Middle schools, and taught piano lessons from my home until the pandemic hit in 2020.

I’m also an active member of my church, serving as the children’s music conductor and an adviser in the Compassionate Service Program, providing care to those in need. I am a former school board member for Mount Airy City Schools, serving on an interim basis from July 2019 to Dec. 1 2020, through the start of the pandemic.

In my free time, I volunteer for multiple programs in our community, such as Surry Animal Rescue, where we foster cats and dogs (more than 150 fosters collectively) and assist with adoptions and fundraisers. I proudly serve as a board member of the Greater Mount Airy Ministry of Hospitality over The Shepherd’s House and Helping Hands Foundation of Surry County, and I am the president of the Board of Directors for The Redemption House-Surry, a long-term men’s recovery program located right outside the city in Toast.

As the adviser over the High School Interact Club, whose motto is “Service Above Self,” I work to cultivate the next generation of service-oriented individuals. Because of the scope of my community-based activities, I believe that I am in the best position to reflect the wants and needs of those who would be my constituents.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as a city commissioner?

Answer: I feel called to serve our community. I can’t change the world, the United States or even the entire state of North Carolina, but I can help to cultivate a thriving community here in Mount Airy. On a daily basis I work with children who will need jobs when they grow up, affordable housing and positive activities, and I would like to be in a position where I can do the most good for them and for all of us who live here.

This is my home, and I understand the history of Mount Airy because it is my history. We have a really wonderful town, with strong, kind individuals who deserve to be supported and to be heard. I want to be able to provide the opportunities for growth, while balancing a fiscally conservative approach and utilizing local networks as well as local partnerships to set us up for future success. I would like to support the continuance of responsible growth while maintaining the rich, vibrant history and culture we already have. Mount Airy is a great place to live, and I want to keep it that way.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing Mount Airy and how will you address them?

Answer: While there are some who would say jobs and housing are the two biggest issues, I would select workforce development and poverty as those I see a need to address. Jobs and housing both fall under these categories. Though proper workforce development and utilization of community programs that already exist, such as career and technical education programs, along with partnerships with the city and Surry Community College, Mount Airy City Schools, Surry County Schools, NexGen, etc. and proper marketing we can increase development, without necessarily spending money to fix problems.

As we build stronger partnerships and grow our workforce, we provide opportunities for those struggling with poverty to rise above their circumstances. A stronger workforce cultivates a stronger economy, which entices more housing developers and businesses to choose Mount Airy.

There are many other needs our community has, but I believe that once we have focused our efforts on these issues, we will have time and tools necessary to address the other needs plaguing our community. A stronger economy generates more sales for local businesses, more enticement for tourism and more opportunities to be able to recover from addiction, just to name a few of the needs we have here in Mount Airy. I would support the endeavors that grow our workforce and encourage the retention and success of our citizens.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: My experience of being a former school board member sets me apart from my opponents running for the North Ward seat. As someone who already learned how to work alongside elected officials overseeing all facets of a large-scale community program such as the educational system, I understand why it is important to be fiscally responsible and how to allocate funding appropriately.

This experience has taught me exactly why it is imperative that officials listen to their constituents, respect differing perspectives and be willing to adapt as the needs of the community change and grow. Through my experiences in multiple community programs, I know and work/volunteer alongside an amazing network of individuals here in Mount Airy who are already striving to decrease poverty, build houses, grow our economy and help with substance-abuse recovery, as well as those who are putting in the effort to provide wholesome activities through parks and recreation, downtown development and the vital network of public safety.

As the youngest candidate and the only candidate with school-age children, I would also bring the perspective of young families with me to this position. While we have some great city commissioners, there is no representation of young families, or diversity. My young, multicultural family sets me apart from my opponents and grants me a broader view of all the people we are striving to serve.

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: I’m a retired commercial banker and have lived here 30 years. I’m a senior citizen outside but only 39 inside, graduated from East Carolina University, where I studied business and economics, and have spent my entire career working with businesses large and small.

Before being transferred here I worked in other North Carolina towns, so between those places and here I’ve been involved with various chambers of commerce, Habitat, Rotary, Lions and other civic clubs, as well as Central Methodist Church. After retirement I started a management-recruiting business to locate banker candidates for other banks across the Southeast. I sold that business in 2021.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as a city commissioner?

Answer: I’m a candidate for city commissioner because I think our city should adjust its direction and priorities. I want to help that happen. Our downtown is the envy of others. We have unique tourism that has kept us going during tough spells. Record-setting city spending over the past nine years has created big improvements downtown and at Spencer’s. We hope they will repay us over time. That’s been a huge kickstart and it’s now time to take off the taxpayer-paid training wheels and have private developer money move that area forward. This is what the city promised originally, so let’s get back to that plan. We need to turn more attention to the rest of the town.

Most people know I’ve closely followed our city government for years, much like others might follow Duke/Carolina basketball. From speaking up at city forums to letters to the newspaper, I’ve shown citizens my long-term sincere interest in good stewardship of taxpayer monies. That’s what a commissioner should do. We’ve all seen lots of changes over the past few years and more will come. As your commissioner I’ll make sure those changes meet the common sense test and are the best ones for all citizens.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing Mount Airy and how will you address them?

Answer: Our two biggest issues are a lack of good-paying full-time jobs and our almost zero population growth.

We have surplus city water and land. Our workforce is great, but much of it commutes out of town daily. Our school system is strong, as is our community college. Cost of living is moderate. Quality of life is tops. We’ve got a lot to offer. Jobs and population are directly connected and new full-time jobs can solve both problems.

Macy’s chose China Grove for a distribution center with 2,800 jobs. Just one recent year in the state saw 157 new announcements and 19,700 new jobs. Seventy percent of that went to small towns in rural counties. We didn’t get a shot at Macy’s or the 157 new job announcements. I say we weren’t trying hard enough; it wasn’t the priority it should have been.

City expenses increase over time, but our population has stood still since 2010, so each citizen will pay more taxes — unless we grow. Tourism is frosting on the cake, but real jobs form the cake itself. Real jobs are what give young people the confidence and security to marry, buy homes and raise families. We need that.

As a commissioner I’ll work to have the right people, the right priorities and the right business-recruiting plans to let the world know we are the real thing and we have everything they could want in a new location

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: That’s an easy one for me.

I’ve attended 90 percent of city council meetings for many years. Most candidates don’t start attending meetings until they file for office. They’ll need a lot of on-the-job training, but I can make a meaningful contribution from day one.

Attending all those meetings taught me a great deal. I understand city operations and procedures. I know past and present issues, I know the city budget and I know business. I know Mount Airy.

My priorities are: solid full-time jobs to grow the city, fairness and openness with all citizens, common sense and good stewardship of taxpayer money to lower taxes.

I’ve spent years speaking up for the silent majority and I’m talking with lots of them on front porches as I campaign. Many recognize me from my longtime focus on city government. I’ve spoken countless times in the public forum portion of our city board meetings. I’ve written numerous letters to the newspaper. Most of you know who I am and what I stand for — now I’m asking you to show up for me at early voting that’s going on now and especially at the primary polls on May 17.

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: My family and I moved to Mount Airy in 1996. I became licensed as a school counselor in 1999 and as a licensed professional counselor in 2001. I have worked for Mount Airy City Schools and have had my own private practice. I have served as a board member for the United Fund of Surry and also as a committee member for Young Life of the Foothills. My husband, Bill, is an orthopaedic surgeon and joined Surry Orthopaedics in 1996. He later went on to form Blue Ridge Orthopaedics, and since then has been employed by Northern Regional Hospital.

All five of our children attended Mount Airy City Schools, and all graduated from Mount Airy High School. Each has gone on to complete a higher education and all have successful careers

I was born in England and raised in the United States, so as a naturalized U.S. citizen I take voting and civic responsibility quite seriously. Recently I was challenged by a friend to think about serving our city in an elected capacity. Running for city commissioner has so far proven to be interesting and informative. I have met with a number of city leaders, and I am extremely encouraged by the status and future of this community.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as a city commissioner?

Answer: I have always been interested in community development, and I have witnessed tremendous growth and progress in this city over the last 26 years. I would consider it an honor and a privilege to help navigate this great city forward to an even brighter future for all constituents. I believe that in order to be an effective leader, it is crucial to be available and accessible to respond to queries and concerns.

Not only do I commit to being approachable, I will also do the research necessary to fully understand all sides of pressing issues. Rather than pursuing my own agenda, I want to be a conduit by which the voices of the great people of Mount Airy are heard.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing Mount Airy and how will you address them?

Answer: Growth while retaining the inherent charm of the area is quite important. As an avid watcher of local real estate, it seems there is a shortage of available and affordable housing. As city commissioner, I would explore ways to alleviate this shortage, consulting with local Realtors and developers to understand barriers to more housing becoming available. As a homeowner I am keenly aware of a shortage of contractors to work on new or existing homes. Consulting with local educators to explore ways to encourage more people to enter the area of construction and development could prove helpful.

Secondly, aiding and promoting the development and improvement of our downtown area is crucial. I have attended a couple of the meetings where a consultant described ways to accomplish a myriad of goals to bolster our downtown, not only for local citizens but the many visitors we welcome each year. For instance, the Spencer’s buildings are a key project and opportunity for revitalization downtown. I am hopeful that this will bear fruit economically and also bring many more visitors to our community.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: I will dedicate myself to viewing issues from all sides. While I firmly believe that all my competitors are more than competent, I am confident I can bring a fresh approach to this public office. With my goal of being available to listen, and indeed my training professionally in listening well, I believe I would provide a level of accessibility that many I have spoken with say is vital.

This community has been extremely good to me and my family, and a chance to serve as city commissioner would be only a small token of my appreciation.

The weather was not cooperative, with heavy storms on Friday evening and rain off and on much of Saturday, but the annual Pilot Mountain Civic Club Mayfest returned this year, filling the streets with vendors and shoppers.

While the crowds might have been off from what organizers were hoping for as a result of the poor weather, thousands still made their way to Pilot Mountain for the three-day event.

Mayfest, the major annual fundraiser for the local Civic Club, is a popular gathering, where town residents, as well as visitors from all around the region, visit Pilot Mountain for live music, a variety of food booths, and a number of craft and other vendors.

The event, an unofficial beginning of summer for many, had been cancelled the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but folks seemed to enjoy this weekend’s event even through the stormy weather.

With spring time comes tourists returning during the warm season. As much as I love to see families enjoying Main Street, the visitors I most look forward to are actually the thousands of birds who stop by. Many of us enjoy seeing new birds at our feeders, like tiny warblers and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Blue Grosbeaks, and even Scarlet Tanagers.

More than a hundred species of birds migrate through and to our region every spring, and though we all enjoy seeing the new addition to our feeder or on a walk, watching these birds has a rich history in our community. Did you know that International Migratory Bird Day is celebrated every year on the second Saturday of May? This holiday is celebrated all throughout North and South America, and North Carolina is certainly no exception.

This region is important to migrating birds during both the spring and fall. During the spring, thousands of birds leave their winter homes, ranging from South America all the way up to the far southern states of the US, and head north, hoping to find plenty of food and a good nesting spot. During their fall migration, we see other types of birds migrating from the north to find warmer weather during the cool seasons.

These birds come through this region for many reasons. We are a part of a long-known migration route for many birds, and some use the mountains to help navigate. The mountains and waterways also provide lots of food and nesting opportunities, and even events such as storms bring them through the area.

The movements of these birds have been noted for hundreds of years in this region. More than 350 years ago, the Saura tribe was known to hunt migrating birds for food, tools, and to wear. Some of those birds you can still see today, such as Thrush (Swainson’s and Wood are both still popular here) or maybe even a Snow Goose if you are very lucky nowadays. Not all of the birds they would have observed are still around today, though, with the infamous passenger pigeon being the prime example.

Early European settlers also observed and hunted migrating birds, more than 250 years ago. Moravian settlers were recorded as being especially fascinated with “exotic” migrants such as the Whippoorwills, which “calls only at night;” a fascination many of us here still share. They also relied on migrating birds as a food source, such as wild geese and the passenger pigeon. They would go from hunting these passenger pigeons by the thousands each winter to witnessing their extinction. In the fall of 1760, men in Wachovia hunted 1,200-1,800 pigeons in a single hunt one night. Here in Surry County in 1842, a flock roosting over four square miles stayed 17 nights. By the late 1800s, they would be gone from North Carolina. By 1914, the last passenger pigeon, which was kept in the Cincinnati zoo, died and the species was gone forever.

Modern groups would soon follow in the footsteps of past bird migration observers, but with the hope of conserving species rather than for hunting. In 1902, the Audubon Society of North Carolina was founded, and during this time, bird watching became a popular hobby as concern for losing species grew. Soon after, with the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway here and a rising interest in parks, the Carolina Bird Club was founded in 1937. This initial club had members from all over the state, including Winston-Salem and surrounding communities, and they were dedicated to studying and conserving birds.

Bird watching is still a beloved hobby in this region, and the number of groups and opportunities has only grown. One of our most prominent groups is the Forsythe chapter of the Audubon Society, and they notably do migrating hawk counts every fall throughout the region, but the Pilot Mountain watch is a personal favorite. Every year, starting in September, counters will be out at Pilot, counting migrating hawks and birds of prey as they fly south. A few rare finds, such as Northern Harriers, have been seen, but broad-winged hawks are what we get the most of. Every year, thousands of these birds pass by Pilot, and with the local record being more than 10,000 passing by in a single day in 1993.

For centuries, the people of Surry County and the surrounding communities have watched these birds as they migrate through. Over the years, the intent has changed from hunting for nutrition to watching and conservation, but one thing hasn’t changed — we are simply fascinated with them. So, set up a backyard feeder or get out to a local park this spring (and fall) because you never know what new bird could be visiting.

Cassandra Johnson is the director of programs and education at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She has been an avid bird-watcher for more than 10 years.

Three people are running for mayor of Mount Airy in the 2022 non-partisan municipal election, including Ron Niland, who was appointed to that post in 2021; present North Ward Commissioner Jon Cawley; and Teresa Lewis, a former at-large city commissioner.

The two top vote-getters in the primary on May 17 will square off in the Nov. 8 general election.

Each responded to the same set of questions designed to help voters learn about their backgrounds and positions on key issues to make informed choices.

Listed in alphabetical order, the candidates and responses include those of:

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: My name is Jon Cawley and I would like to be the mayor of Mount Airy.The most important thing to know about me is that my hope is found in Jesus. God’s love is unconditional. I am blessed and I believe you are as well. Please don’t define yourself as a victim, we are meant to be so much more.

Jill Rae and I have been married for 34 years and she remains the best person I know. She and I are thankful for our adult children (Kendall, Choppy and Antonia, Simon) and the lives they are building. They are other-centered.

As far as my educational background goes, here’s what matters: I was fortunate to get an athletic scholarship that kept me around school long enough to fall in love with learning. I still love to learn and want to pass that along to others. Be intentional in your life — thank a teacher today! My teachers often cared more about my future than I did, and I’m so glad I lived long enough to share the passion.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as mayor?

Answer: I want to be the mayor in order to tell our (Mount Airy’s) story.

Most of us learned who we are and where we are from by hearing stories about our family and community. As much as the world has changed, the need to hear the stories of how it has not changed.

Our children need to know and we all need to be reminded of the collective values that made us unique. Those who desire to be comfortable living in Mount Airy should want to be productive.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing Mount Airy and how will you address them?

Answer: Mount Airy shares all the challenges of any city in America.

The single biggest issue facing Mount Airy is leadership. It is the issue facing all facets of life in these United States.

The answers to the issues of opioids, housing, jobs, water, roads, staffing, education, taxes, race relations, equality, transparency, special interests or any other topic begin with leadership.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: My tenure as an elected official spans more than 14 years. My voting record shows a history of caring about people, desiring small government, keeping schools safe, lowering taxes and being informed, approachable and trustworthy.

All things considered, I am the best mayoral candidate.

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: My name is Teresa Lewis and I am 63 years old. My family has lived in Mount Airy for generations. I graduated from Surry Community College in 1978 with an associate in applied science degree in legal secretarial technology. In 1987, I founded my business, WorkForce Unlimited, and later our executive placement firm AREVO Group. For more than 36 years I have met a weekly payroll and continue to do so.

We now employ more than 10,000 individuals in three states and place hundreds of executives every year. Additionally, I am retired from my businesses and still am the majority owner. For two years, I served as the at-large commissioner on the Mount Airy city council.

Also, I am now on the board of directors of Northern Regional of Surry County. Over the years, I was chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Reeves Community Center board, Mount Airy Rescue Squad board and many others. Over the years I have been involved in many philanthropic causes in the community.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as mayor?

Answer: Being retired allows me the time necessary to serve our community as mayor. My history definitely qualifies me to hold that position and is well-documented.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing Mount Airy and how will you address them?

Answer: Taxes and related issues are at the top. As mayor, I will promote a reduction in taxes while keeping our present excellent service in place. As a city commissioner, I voted for lower taxes and was the deciding vote on curbside recycling. Also, I appeared before the North Carolina Legislature and saved our ABC taxes that help our local library, Police Department and others.

Allocation of property taxes will be reviewed, as our tax rate is higher than similar-size cities. Also, I want to ensure that taxes are being well-spent in addition to not being excessive. My priorities include a fair and equitable tax rate and an opportunity for all to have adequate housing.

As mayor, I would be an agent of change and collaborate with the city council to make the best decisions for the citizens.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: One of my greatest strengths is team leadership, as has been proven over the past 36 years. In my business, I have led a team of incredible employees to being recognized as one of the largest staffing firms in the region. It is my belief that my leadership skills, along with my business and government experience, uniquely qualify me as the best choice to serve as the mayor of Mount Airy.

Also, the fact that I have served in many leadership capacities and continue to do so, volunteer by giving time, talent and treasure to our local community as well as all local schools and charities certainly qualifies me as the best choice.

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: I am 67 years old and have lived in Mount Airy for more than 30 years. I graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in history and have a master’s degree from Appalachian State University in political science/public administration. I am a retired city manager, having served in five cities in North Carolina, and now am a consultant to small local governments in the state.

I served on the city commission beginning in December 2019 as commissioner at large. I then served as mayor pro tem from December 2019 until July of 2021, when elected by the board to serve as mayor, filling the remaining term of Mayor David Rowe.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as mayor?

Answer: I have had the privilege of serving as the mayor of the best small town in America. We are at the exciting crossroads of opportunity and vision. Many decisions have been made that have put us in a position to make us a first-class city that will still retain the charms of what we have been blessed to enjoy. I have invested much of my energy to the future of our city and have encouraged the next generation to see public service as rewarding and fun. I have the energy and passion for public service. I truly enjoy representing my community and telling our story.

The next several years are crucial to our future and will shape our community for generations to come. With my experience in local government and, knowing the background of issues facing us, we can forge the relationships needed to effectively move us forward.

I love the interaction with our citizens and visitors and hearing all the great stories and experiences they bring in making our city a great place to live. These encounters give me the wonderful opportunity to tout the characteristics to others that we experience by living in Mount Airy. I enjoy working with our business community and seeking ways to help it become stronger. I am one who loves representing our city at events and celebrations.

We have made great progress and I want to see that continue. I want to continue telling our story and expand on the possibilities to come.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing Mount Airy and how will you address them?

Answer: The two most important issues facing us are both related. They are housing and economic development. How we deal with these will affect how we live, work and play going forward.

The board and I are now working on economic development by the changes we are making in our downtown area. Most of the new investment the city has seen has been downtown. This is vital to our future. Changes in demographics and what our future holds will make what we do crucial. In speaking with our local industries these investments need to continue if they are to remain and expand here. We must create spaces and living facilities that our younger generation expect. Attracting talent that will enhance our community is vital for any vibrant and growing city.

Housing trends are ever changing, and we need to have housing that reflects those changes. The city needs to encourage exciting living communities by finding ways to make development easier and affordable. Quality high-density development will help keep our taxes low and allow us to continue the high level of excellent services we enjoy.

We must have vision and react quickly as trends dictate. A city must be growing if it is to remain vibrant. Attracting the next generation is essential, but these changes will serve all our residents of all ages by enhancing the quality of life. We can and will meet these challenges.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: Energy, passion, fairness and vision. I have the experience of serving in local government for more than 30 years and the knowledge to know how government at the local level functions. This background is invaluable as we deal with issues of service levels and cost containment. I also understand the business side of government.

None of that matters, however, without the vision of what we can become. I enjoy working with people in creating consensus of a vision moving forward. Being a leader requires the energy and passion for trying to get things accomplished when there is a diversity of thought. I enjoy the interactions of citizens, city staff and our board when we solve issues facing us. I have developed strong relationships with county and state leaders that are paying dividends. My strength is working to see everyone is heard and respected as decisions are made. I enjoy encouraging all to be part of their government and in turn, make us better as a community. I always try to represent our city with integrity and pride.

Being mayor is more than presiding at meetings and cutting ribbons. It takes the ability to lead our community and tell our story everywhere. I have tried to engage as many people as possible to help us to continue being the bright light we are to our county, state and country. Being mayor requires energy. I have that. It requires passion, I truly love to serve. Being kind is important. Vision with integrity is my promise moving forward.

The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History held several activites Sunday in honor of Cinco de Mayo over the weekend, in honor of the traditional Mexican holiday held on Thursday.

While Saturday’s overcast skies and rain made enjoying the celebration a bit dicey, museum officials and participants were up for the challenge, moving some of the event indoors.

Visitors, some entering the museum for the first time, went up to the third floor to see performances from both Ballet Folklorico and students from the museum’s Mexican Dance Bootcamp.

For those who could not make it in person, there are live stream videos available on the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History’s Facebook page.

Karl Singletary has a vision that he wants to bring to Mount Airy, a project he launched first in Asheville five years ago that he is now bringing to his hometown.

“I grew up on Virginia Street, I remember when drugs first got here 1981. I remember when crack first showed up,” he said with a knowing look. “Things won’t get better until we do something about it. I just want to see this place turned into a place that saves lives. It’s important that I give back, this is where my addiction started.”

New Hope New Beginnings will be a sober living transitional house located at the soon-to-be renovated multi-unit residence at 126 Rawley Avenue. It seeks to give men in recovery stability that will allow them to work a program with the security of continuity.

The home itself is an allegory of the potential hidden beneath. Comprised of eight units, a mixture of apartments and single bedroom dwellings, the goal is to totally renovate the interior of the home. Singletary gave a short tour Thursday in which some of the units seen were ready for tenants, others were a chaotic mess of trash and the belongings of past residents.

“The house is a really good example of transformation of those who live here. If we can take this house and transform it into a safe and supporting home, people can see that and maybe we can make these changes at a personal level,” said Jaime Edwards, of the county’s substance abuse office. He is making a video timeline of the project which will be shared with the community.

“We are looking for ten residents upstairs and ten downstairs, and then there are three apartments that we are going to turn into home living apartments,” he explained, “People are going to transition from the dorm to the apartments.”

The home needs a lot of work: new wiring, plumbing, and windows to go along with its new tenants. In a nod to the transformational theme, “The old windows, we’re going to turn them into a greenhouse for the backyard,” Singletary said. If inanimate windows can evolve into something new, he knows so too can the residents.

He said word they were coming to the neighborhood set off alarms. The concern of some was that the house would be a magnet for troublemakers. His project was met with a ‘not in my backyard’ response that is at times indicative of the uphill battle Surry County is facing when it comes to substance abuse.

What he wants the public to know is that this is meant to be the last stop for these men. When their time at New Hope New Beginnings is complete, they will have transitioned into a next chapter armed with a toolkit of skills, coping devices, and along with a solid stretch of sobriety to go with it.

He noted, “To bring people out of treatment or prison without getting them back into society and getting them back into the thought process of getting a job and making money, is a complete failure.”

People who leave treatment for drugs or alcohol are significantly more likely to relapse if they exit treatment without a plan including a place to live, and a support network. Often, that means a new place to live and a new support network.

This model can work. Singletary is a graduate of such a program before founding his own. After 30 years in addiction, and now seven clean, he has a lot of useful insight. He will be living at the home with the residents, albeit in separate quarters, as an accredited drug counselor and offer his wisdom of experiences with the struggle.

During active addition, people have had on blinders as they had but one goal: to satiate the urge. As the world kept turning for everyone else, they were stuck in a loop that prevented significant growth physically, mentally, or spiritually.

Filling those gaps in mental and spiritual health with something other than “a thing,” as Singletary said, is critical to their recovery. “Connections with the ministry, the spiritual aspect is very important because that’s where the strength comes from. You got to lean on some kind of faith because our best thinking is how we got here, so we have to allow other people to think for us for a while.”

It will take time; it takes time to fall into addiction and it similarly takes time to break it. This program will be making a commitment, up to two years, for these men to find their path. They will do so with guidance from Singletary and his hope is those who succeed and exit the program will be willing to help those who remain.

“Our hope is this can be the shining light on the hill that recovery works, and people get better, by setting a high level of service and expectations for ourselves, and those we serve,” said Edwards.

Some have trouble seeing addiction as anything but a personal shortcoming rather than the chronic and debilitating disease it is. Friends and family who have been put off by toxic behaviors may keep those in recovery at arm’s length for fear of being hurt again.

“A man once asked me, ‘Karl, what is the most powerful thing in this world? A mind, once you’ve made up your mind.’ So, we need to change the way people think, and the way they think about recovery and the way they think about drugs.

“Drugs aren’t the problem; it’s the way people think about drugs and what they use them for. It stopped being fun a long time ago. Drugs used us; we weren’t using drugs no more.

“We have to change the way people feel so they know drugs are not a medication, or a choice. We got to live on life’s terms, and we have to learn how to deal with that without the use of drugs or alcohol,” Singletary said.

He sees New Hope New Beginnings as a long term tool to help those in need. “We’re not trying to control people; we are just trying to provide a service. We’re not trying to have power; we are trying to empower people. It’s not about manipulation; we want to inspire.”

DOBSON — The primary election for Surry County clerk of court includes three candidates, who are all Republicans, with no Democrats having filed to run for that office this year.

One is incumbent Neil Brendle and the former clerk he defeated in a party primary in 2018, Teresa O’Dell, en route to overcoming a Democratic challenge in the November general election that year.

The third candidate in the 2022 race is Melissa Marion Welch, who has many years of experience as a clerk’s office employee.

The same set of questions was posed to all three, designed to help voters learn about their backgrounds and positions on key issues in order to make informed choices.

Listed in alphabetical order, the candidates and responses include those of:

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: My name is L. Neil Brendle, clerk of Superior Court for the county of Surry. I thank you for the opportunity to bring attention to the office.

I have served for the last four years in this capacity, am 45 years old and a resident of Dobson. I was appointed in December of 2000 as a magistrate judge for Judicial District 17-B, and served here in Surry for almost 17 years.

Additionally, I have worked many years in the grading, highway building and public utilities construction industries. I am a graduate of Gardner-Webb University, Surry Community College and have completed many hours of education at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ and a conservative Republican individual rooted in the Constitution of our great nation. I have been a lifelong sportsman with a love of the outdoors and shooting sports. I am blessed to be a father of two bright, caring, loving daughters; husband to an incredibly supportive wife; and have five amazing dogs.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as clerk of court?

Answer: I was born and reared in Dobson, where my parents were public servants in differing capacities. I learned from a young age the value and reward of helping others. My mother was a town commissioner in Dobson for many years until her death. She operated the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles License Plate Agency in Dobson, and was perhaps my biggest influence in dealing with the public. No matter how difficult or time-consuming, each individual she dealt with was as important as the next.

My father served as a magistrate, a law enforcement officer with the state Department of Insurance and later owned a construction company where I worked for many years. Throughout high school and college, I was a coach and referee in youth sports, which laid the foundation for serving others. At the same time, I was working for my father long hours in adverse conditions at night and on holidays which made me appreciate the value of hard work.

I still draw upon the passion for public service and work ethic instilled in my youth every day. For the past almost 22 years I have had the opportunity to help people daily, and to be honest, I have received the greater blessing.

As a magistrate and now clerk of Superior Court I’ve honed and developed skills that no other candidate possesses. I’ve assembled a team of staff whose skills and assets rival and surpass any other workforce I have ever witnessed. My desire to continue to serve has nothing to do with a title, power or position; but solely the opportunity to lead and serve others without delay, provide equal and ease of access to justice and to utilize my skills helping others. My judicial experience equips me better than others. I have a passion and desire that is unparalleled.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing the clerk’s realm of responsibility and how will you address them?

Answer: The greatest challenge is also the largest challenge facing us since the unification of our court systems in the early 1960s. We are about to embark on the inevitable journey of modernization, by transforming our courts to a paperless system. This initiative by the N.C. Judicial Branch will have innumerable benefits, among them streamlining the court processes, increasing and easing access to the courts, improving efficiency and providing a continuity of service that is necessary as witnessed by interruptions such as the pandemic we just experienced.

I also serve as a member of a technology committee comprised of a small number of clerks across the state, which allows me to be a participant as well as stakeholder in implementing this change.

Secondly, the increased caseload we have seen is unprecedented. Our office has been phenomenal in dealing with the workload increase as well as reduction of backlog. In 2017, 58% of estates cases had not been compelled for filings. In 2019, just months after I took office, we had reduced that to 41%, and today I am proud to say we have reduced that to less than 19%.

While initially this accomplishment appears monumental, its value increases when you consider we had an overall annual increase of almost 300 case filings additionally in that category more than any year ever. This speaks volumes to the increase of efficiency of our staff. I also serve on a state clerk resource committee, and am committed to increasing the benefits our staff deserves, which will aid in the recruitment and retention of valued employees.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: Countless attorneys, self-represented litigants, judicial officials, law enforcement officers and many members of the public have stated the improvements of the environment at the Surry County clerk of Superior Court’s office since I took office. Our courts and services here are regarded as some of the most productive, efficient, secure and accurate anywhere. I have made many changes and program implementations that have produced profound benefits.

The improvement and development of interagency relations, cultivation of workforce and changes to the environment and atmosphere have been instrumental in improving productivity and efficiency. Also, the desire to be a good leader is imperative. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

Our staff includes some of the most skilled, knowledgeable, competent and kind individuals you will ever encounter. They are constantly provided and take advantage of training, cross-training and continuing education opportunities.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we were always open and provided access to the courts as required by our state Constitution. My background in human resource management, business administration and project management; my judicial experience; and unending desire to serve the public are all assets that elevate me as a choice for this office.

It’s difficult to summarize in a few words 25-plus years of experiences in these different areas, so I encourage anyone to reach out to me. My office door is always open, and one of the best parts of my job is the time spent meeting and talking with the public.

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: My name is Teresa O’Dell, age 60. I was proudly elected as Surry County’s first Republican clerk of court in 2014. I have 20 years of experience in the clerk’s office. I have served as an evening instructor at Surry Community College teaching about the court system and juvenile law. I also have been employed with the Yadkin County Sheriff’s Office and Adult Probation Office.

Having been born and raised in Surry County, I came from very simple beginnings. My parents are Gladys Hopkins and Elmer O’Dell. I graduated from Gardner-Webb University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. I attend Antioch Baptist Church in Mount Airy and have been a Christian since 1976. I built my first home at the age of 21 and my second home at the age 31.

A registered Republican since 2000, I am conservative and pro-life.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as clerk of court?

Answer: I want to continue serving the good citizens of Surry County. The court system requires a strong and experienced leader who is respected by attorneys, law enforcement and the general public. My door will always be open for conversation concerning the needs of the community. Trust, knowledge and good communication are the keys to a successful clerk’s office.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing the clerk’s realm of responsibility and how will you address them?

Answer: Number one, electing a clerk of court who knows how to run the office efficiently.

The second issue includes customer service, training and adding personnel to balance out the workloads. I want to be the elected clerk of court to train the next generation of deputy clerks.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: Having been the elected clerk of court, I have been on the job since Day One serving my constituents in estates, adoptions and criminal/civil filings. Every night I worked until 7 or 8 o’clock to check the work of 20 employees.

I am a proven leader with 20 years of experience in the clerk’s office and a faithful public servant for 30 years.

I am a specialist in helping people. For many years, I have been walking the extra mile to encourage people to succeed. A clerk can be many things to many people. She is a good listener, a voice for the elderly and victims of domestic violence. She is a protector of the law and procedure.

The judicial process must be productive and less stressful for those who are experiencing sessions of court for the first time. The experience must be positive. I will work closely with our resident Superior Court judge to address concerns. My goals will reflect a clerk’s office that maintains accurate records and excellent customer service.

This is one of the most important elections in our lifetime. The primary election will select your clerk of court for the next four years. There will be no general election for clerk. I am confident and prepared to return to that office.

I humbly ask for your vote.

Tell citizens a little about yourself.

Answer: I’m Melissa Marion Welch, am 41 and live in Dobson. I graduated from Surry Central High School, Surry Community College and Appalachian State University. I am married to Brandon Welch from Dobson and we have three daughters, Kendall, Dannie and Charlee. My father was Danny Marion of Shoals. My mother is Debbie Hawks Dezern, from Beulah, and my stepdad is Steve “Doc” Dezern from Dobson. My mother-in-law is Judy Johnson Welch, from Ararat, and my father-in-law was Charles Welch of Dobson.

I am a Christian and a member of Salem Baptist Church in Dobson. I am presently the children’s director and oversee areas that include Vacation Bible School, children and adult Sunday School, Upward Basketball and children’s activities throughout the year. I attend a weekly women’s Bible study and am now serving my second three-year term on the Salem Christian Academy school board.

Question: Why are you interested in serving as clerk of court?

Answer: The clerk’s office is part of my life. I grew up in this office. I was 22 years old when I started my career. During my career I got married, had children, built a home and lost a parent, all while working with coworkers that were as close to me as my family. I genuinely enjoyed my job. I enjoyed coming to work and processing all the job duties that I had to complete. I felt like my job mattered and I found joy in helping people.

I enjoy passing my knowledge on to the next generation of new employees. I want to retire from the clerk’s office. I want to finish the race that I started. I always thought I would decide closer to retirement whether I would like to run for clerk of court or not.

God’s timing is in His time and not ours. I have prayed and prayed for guidance and direction with my decision to run for office. I felt at peace after months of prayer when I decided to run and told my husband my decision. I truly believe this is where I am supposed to be. I know the knowledge and experience that I have gained over 18 years has prepared me for this role.

Question: What do you consider the two most important issues now facing the clerk’s realm of responsibility and how will you address them?

Answer: An issue I will address is customer service. Employees in the clerk’s office are public servants. Being a public servant can be difficult. Most people who visit to do business with the clerk’s office come in emotional and upset. Something has happened in their life such as a criminal charge, a death in the family, losing their home or kids and they bring that frustration in with them. The staff needs to understand this and be able to address each person with compassion and patience.

Many people do not understand completely what the clerk’s office can and cannot do. We do not have forms to fix every issue you have. We can still take the time to speak to you and explain our processes, leaving you with a better understanding. We work for you, the public. Customer service needs to be at the highest level possible.

Another issue is training. It is a necessity for the staff to be cross-trained in many different areas. Life happens and someone will need to be out for various reasons. You should not be sent away without being helped due to an absence of an employee.

The elected clerk needs to fill any vacancies in a timely manner and make sure the staff is fully trained. Training is mainly on the job. Classes are offered through NCAOC (the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts). I would ensure employees completed classes offered in their areas of work. I would encourage them to retake classes during their career to be refreshed on processes and because laws change.

Question: What makes you the best choice for the office you are seeking?

Answer: I began my career in the Surry County clerk’s office in December of 2002 as a deputy clerk. I have 18 years of experience, 12 years in Surry County and six years in Forsyth County. There are three levels of employment in the clerk’s office, deputy clerk, assistant clerk and the elected clerk. Each level has its own set of duties and responsibilities. I have held two out of the three positions.

While in Forsyth County I was promoted to an assistant clerk and supervised as many as 20 employees. I also worked directly under the elected clerk. I was able to learn things in Forsyth County that I would not have been able to as a deputy clerk in Surry. I want to bring the knowledge that I gained from Forsyth back to Surry County to implement services that are not presently being offered to attorneys and the public.

I have knowledge and experience in areas such as District and Superior civil proceedings, domestic violence, courtroom clerk, jury, small claims, adoptions, name changes, motor vehicle liens, legitimations, incompetency, foreclosures, head cashier, administration, payroll, benefits and time management.

While I was employed in Forsyth County, employees from Surry and Stokes would reach out to me for help. I was also contacted by attorneys from Surry County and the public for assistance. I am still being contacted at this time for help. I believe it is the right time for me to step out in faith and run to be your next clerk of Superior Court.

One would think that when a board votes 7-2 in favor of something, it’s a done deal — but a longtime local businessman has learned this is not the case regarding signage for a $2 million expansion project.

The issue surrounds the development of a new Frank Fleming Body Shop and Collision Center in a building once housing a Winn-Dixie supermarket on Merita Street in Mount Airy, which Fleming bought, located across U.S. 52 from Mayberry Mall.

Fleming is moving from his present location on Springs Road near radio stations WPAQ/WSYD just outside the city limits, where the body shop has been in operation since 1985.

Since it can be considered off the beaten path from a business standpoint, the owner says he has relied on word-of-mouth traffic and a reputation for doing good work to draw customers to the shop employing about 10 people.

In looking toward the future, Fleming now is expanding to the more-visible location along the U.S. 52 business corridor. But what should be a seamless move has become beset by city regulatory issues regarding an existing sign there which he wants to re-face.

“I started this project last summer and it’s been one battle after another,” Fleming, who is known for his distinguished career in modified racing along with being a businessman, said Friday.

Although the remnants of what once displayed the Winn-Dixie sign still occupy a spot in the parking lot — including two large poles extending into the air from a sturdy base — Fleming is prohibited from using those fixtures for a sign drawing attention to his enterprise.

This is despite a recent 7-2 decision by a group called the Mount Airy Zoning Board of Adjustment to approve that use, with updated sign rules in the municipality not allowing new ones more than 15 feet tall, Fleming said he was advised.

The proposal instead required at least a four-fifths “super-majority” vote, according to a city commissioner, Jon Cawley, who explained when bringing the matter to public attention during a meeting Thursday that one of 8-1 would have constituted that.

City Manager Stan Farmer said Friday this is required by state statute rather than a local mandate.

That left Fleming with only one recourse — to bring the matter to Surry County Superior Court for review. “I have appealed this,” he added Friday.

The sign issue reached the Mount Airy Zoning Board of Adjustment via a variance hardship request.

That involves “varying” from the strict wording of zoning regulations, which the business owner requested after unsuccessfully seeking a permit for using the sign there — initially being unaware such rules even existed.

The adjustment board is a powerful, quasi-judicial administrative body whose decisions affect private property rights to the same extent as court rulings.

It not only hears requests for variances, but special-use permits and appeals of decisions made by city planning staff members and the Mount Airy Historic Preservation Commission, regarding interpretations or enforcement of ordinances. The stated overriding purpose of the board is to enforce the meaning and spirit of city ordinances.

Seeking relief from that group came with a price. “I paid $400 for the hearing,” Fleming of the cost required to make his case for the sign variance. The appeal to Superior Court is costing another $200.

The matter as it stands now has left both Fleming and Commissioner Cawley scratching their heads.

“It don’t make sense to me,” Fleming said. “The sign is already there.”

In addition to the body shop, it would highlight an existing auto parts business on the Merita Street property and an Enterprise rental car outlet to be located there.

The sign needs to be somewhat towering in order for passersby to notice the businesses due to not being directly on the highway, which is why Winn-Dixie erected it in the first place, Fleming said.

One thing that troubles the veteran business owner is that in driving along other nearby areas of U.S. 52 and U.S. 601, he has noticed places with newer signs appearing to be taller than 15 feet.

Two carport businesses, one at the former Bright Leaf Drive-In site and another on the corner of Rockford Street and U.S. 52 near Northern Regional Hospital, were among ones he cited, along with an auto dealership and a car wash.

“My question is, why them and not me — somebody’s going to answer that,” Fleming said.

The body shop owner explained that he could just as easily have decided to launch the expansion elsewhere, including Winston-Salem, but chose his home community instead.

“I was born and raised right here in Mount Airy,” Fleming said. “I wanted to stay in town.”

He also pointed out that the former Winn-Dixie location was in a rundown state, including overgrown vegetation and a deteriorating parking lot he plans to have repaved.

“I’m spending close to $2 million on a property that was an eyesore in the community.”

Commissioner Cawley brought up the matter at a council meeting Thursday afternoon, which was not on the agenda but broached by Cawley near the end of the session when officials offered general comments.

“I want the record to show that I support him,” the North Ward board member commented in reference to Fleming, saying that also should be the case with the city government as a whole. “But anyway, I want the record to show that I am disappointed in the Board of Adjustment’s decision.”

Cawley also said he had ridden around town with Fleming and noticed about 30 other signs outside businesses which were of similar size and shape to that on the former Winn-Dixie site. Some are at new businesses and others involve signs that were refurbished, he related.

“Mount Airy has a reputation for being hard to deal with when it comes to bringing business to town,” Cawley said, “and it’s decisions like this that are making us live with that reputation.”

Mount Airy Planning Director Andy Goodall declined to weigh in on the sign matter Friday. “My apologies, but I cannot comment on the referenced case while it is in litigation,” he advised.

However, Elizabeth Martin, the chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, did offer insights Friday on its recent vote.

“I think most of the board was leaning toward not allowing the sign,” she said of the matter involving Fleming.

“But at the same time, Frank’s been around here (a long time) and he was trying to improve that part of town,” Martin added in reference to the seven board members who did vote in his favor.

The two dissenters mainly were concerned about appearance issues in light of updated ordinance requirements approved by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners in 2016, including new height and area requirements to address that consideration with incoming signage.

Martin acknowledged the fact that the case can be taken up in Superior Court and possibly sent back to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a new look.

“The court reviews anything that we have done.”

For the first time in three years, area residents were able to gather publicly to mark the National Day of Prayer in both Mount Airy and Dobson.

The annual observance, held the first Thursday in May across the nation, was cancelled locally in both 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving the Mount Airy Ministerial Association to commemorate the day with local radio broadcasts.

This year, the organization was able to once again hold public gatherings, with more than 40 people on hand for the noontime observance in Mount Airy, and more than 60 turning out in Dobson for the prayer service.

“A sweeter day in the whole year cannot be found,” Dr. David Sparks told those who were gathered on the lawn of the city municipal building in Mount Airy. Calling it a “very solemn day,” Sparks — pastor at Flat Rock Pentecostal Holiness Church — said thousands upon thousands of people were gathering publicly across America for the Day of Prayer.

Mount Airy Mayor Ron Niland said this year’s service takes on a particular poignancy because of the Russian invasion of and war with Ukraine.

“We are gathering today to pray, while they are just trying to survive,” he said, urging those in attendance to pray for Ukraine and its people as well as for America.

During his remarks, Rev. Danny Miller of Central United Methodist Church spoke of the Apostle Paul and his writing to the church in Colossae, telling the church members there that he prayed for them daily, seeking God’s guidance in their growth and maturity as Christians.

Miller said Paul encouraged them to pray as well, to stay true to God, and to not be discouraged or led astray by false teachings — “disinformation, if you will,” he said.

Miller then encouraged those in attendance to remain strong in their prayer life, because that was a key to building a relationship with God.

“This shouldn’t be the only day that we pray. That wouldn’t be much of a relationship,” he said, exhorting those wishing to grow in their relationship with God to pray daily, to pray multiple times a day.

“Prayer is just talking to God. It doesn’t have to be fancy.”

His comments came after Mayor Niland had read a proclamation declaring Thursday a Day of Prayer in Mount Airy. During his remarks, he traced the history of the National Day of Prayer, with its earliest mention coming in 1775, when the Continental Congress asked the colonists to pray for “wisdom in forming a nation.”

“…the call to prayer has continued through our history, including President Lincoln’s proclamation of a day of ‘humility, fasting, and prayer’ in 1863.”

In 1952, he read from the document, Congress passed a joint resolution — which was signed by President Truman — declaring a national day of prayer, and in 1988 the law was amended and signed by President Reagan setting the day as the first Thursday in May.

A similar scene played out in Dobson at noon, with Pastor DM Dalton, president the ministerial association, overseeing the service there, with Dr. Rick Jackson of Welcome Baptist Church delivering the message to those gathered on the courthouse lawn.

Some area residents — particularly those around Pilot Mountain — can be forgiven if they believe we haven’t had a proper spring in three years.

Their wait is about to end.

Friday, the three-day Pilot Mountain Mayfest, sponsored by the Civic Club of Pilot Mountain will return for the first time since 2019, after a two-year COVID layoff.

“The only Mayfests I’ve ever missed are the two we’ve canceled,” said Michelle Fallin, Pilot Mountain Civic Club president and head of the volunteer force putting on this year’s event. “It is a huge tradition for us who live in Pilot Mountain, for people who like to visit Pilot Mountain. I’ve always thought of it as the traditional way to kick off spring and summer.”

She is not the only one — traditionally more than 30,000 people flock to the small town in the shadow of Pilot Mountain for the three-day event, with several streets in downtown Pilot Mountain lined with craft vendors, food booths, along with live music and a game or two for the children.

While Mayfest has been around for several decades, this year’s festival seems to have a special meaning.

“It’s a breath of fresh air,” said Jenny Jessup Kindy, the town’s Main Street coordinator. “It is making life feel more like normal. We’re excited to welcome something like 30,000+ visitors back to town.”

“I have heard a lot say they are glad we are back,” Fallin said. “From what I’m hearing, from people in the community, they are so ready to get back to enjoying everything Pilot Mountain has to offer.”

It’s not just the lure of a downtown festival that has Fallin and others excited. The civic club generally donates between $10,000 and $15,000 to non-profit agencies in Pilot Mountain to meet needs in the community, in additional to some direct donations to families who are in the midst of a crisis, as well as some scholarships to local students.

“Mayfest has always been our biggest fundraiser, it given us the opportunity to do that for our community,” she said. With no Mayfest the past couple of years, it has been difficult to maintain that level of non-profit support. “The money we raise this year will enable us to get back to where we used to be.”

She said this year those attending will notice a few differences, with some of the vendors and music in different places. Part of reorganizing the design is to move the food vendors to Main Street, with tables set up nearby so people can sit and eat.

“That’s been kind of one big struggle each year, for people to be able to sit down and enjoy their food.”

In addition to the vendors — many of which will be new this year — Fallin said many of the downtown businesses plan to set up booths.

“We have some awesome businesses that have come into town the last couple of years,” she said. “Our town in general has done an excellent job of bringing people in to shop. I think a lot of the newer businesses see that and want to be part of Mayfest.”

Mayfest will have its grand opening at noon on the stage set up on Depot Street. The ceremony, in addition to a big welcome to those in attendance, will include remarks by Mayor Evan Cockerham, singing by the 3- and 4-year-olds from First United Methodist Church, with the East Surry High School JROTC serving as color guard.

Fallin said the festival will be from noon until 8 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Spring has sprung and the time is now for the 2022 Budbreak Wine and Craft Beer Festival to make its return this Saturday, May 7, from 12 – 6 p.m. in downtown Mount Airy.

Budbreak is returning to its spring date where it belongs after having a hiatus due to the pandemic and the rescheduling of the 2021 festival to the fall. “As our name implies when the vines begin to bloom in spring it is called Bud Break. That typically happens in May,” organizer Bob Meineke said.

Sue Brownfield added to that chorus, “I’m excited to be returning to our original date of the first Saturday in May as we kick off the wine and craft beer festivals in North Carolina.”

Meineke said, “We are celebrating the growing wine industry which history tells that North Carolina was the first state, going back to colonial times, to have a winery. Our area continues to be the hub for the industry with the wineries and the viticulture program at Surry Community College.”

The festival features top North Carolina wineries and craft beer producers, wonderful food, and great music. This year will see two first-time vendors joining the roster with Dennis Vineyards and Midsummer Brewing displaying their wares.

“We strive to bring many old and favored wineries and breweries then add a mix of newer ones. We always get good feedback about the boutique feel of the event. Smaller venue, downtown and surrounded by lots of things to do before and after the festival. This year we’re getting our merchants involved. Anyone wearing a wrist gets a 10% discount, day of event,” Meineke reported.

Wine & Beer Tasting Tickets cost $20 in advance and gets you a commemorative glass for tasting wine and craft breweries from the vendors. On the day of the event the cost will be $25.

Tickets can still be purchased online at the discounted rate, or in person at The Hampton Inn by Hilton, 2029 Rockford Street, Mount Airy; Old North State Winery, 308 North Main Street, Mount Airy; or Webb Interiors, 1217 West Lebanon Street, Mount Airy.

General Admission Non-Tasting Tickets will allow access to the festival which includes the music and food providers for $4.99. Children 12 and younger are free with a paid adult, and because food and beverage are being offered, no pets are allowed.

Meineke said $2,000 of the proceeds will be going to support the Rotary and Rotaract clubs of Ukraine during their time of crisis. The Budbreak Festival donated $1 per ticket that was sold online through March, which was then also matched by District 7690 for a total of a $2 donation per ticket.

Music will be provided by B-Dazzle Productions, the festival’s Hometown DJ, who will start the event with tunes to set the mood from 12 – 3 p.m. Meineke also advised that Craig Southern and The Phoenixx Band “promised three solid hours of a mix of beach, R&B, country and some rock and roll.” Southern and The Phoenixx band will take the stage from 3 – 6 p.m.

The Budbreak Festival is the primary external fund-raising event for the Mount Airy Rotary Club and has afforded local Rotarians the opportunity to donate more than $193,000 locally to groups. “The monies raised by Rotary from Budbreak go to support these local charities like The Surry Arts Council, The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, The Salvation Army, The United Fund, and The Friends of the Mount Airy Police Department.

“As well as The Shepherds House, Yokefellow Food Pantry, Stop Hunger Now, The Boys Scouts of America, and the YESurry High School Entrepreneurial Competition, to name a few,” Brownfield said, adding in one of her own pet projects, the RotaryPup Dog Park adjacent to the Emily B. Taylor Greenway – a project near and dear to her.

It’s a busy weekend, but visitors really can have it all with a trip to Mayfest in Pilot Mountain and then a trip to Budbreak. “There have always been great local events to compete with. MerleFest, Mayfest, Mother’s Day weekend and more. Variety is always welcome. We have done well each year, with the proceeds from this weekend we will top $200,000 for local, regional, and international projects.”

For tickets, including a Hampton Inn by Hilton festival package, visit: www.budbreakfestival.com/tickets

For the second time in less than six months, a fire has occurred in a vacant commercial building in Mount Airy — and once again the incident has been tied to its occupation by the homeless.

“It was just rinse and repeat,” city Fire Chief Zane Poindexter said of what seems to have become a trend.

The latest blaze was reported Tuesday about 6:15 a.m. at 455 Franklin St., where a large structure is located which formerly housed a private club known as Koozies and before than was a Quality Mills facility.

A passerby spotted smoke coming from the building, leading to a deployment by members of the Mount Airy Fire Department, with 15 firefighters on the scene altogether.

Upon arrival units found an active room and contents fire in the basement of the structure, according to information from the department.

Firefighters then stretched an attack line to the basement door and extinguished the blaze, which was brought under control about 10 minutes after they arrived with no injuries caused.

Primary and secondary searches of the structure resulted to ensure there was no extension of the fire from the room of origin, and the area also was ventilated.

As of Tuesday, the origin of the blaze had not been determined.

“One homeless occupant was at the scene and made to evacuate,” Poindexter added Tuesday, who later was questioned by the city fire marshal and police. “And he couldn’t give any substantial information about the cause of the fire.”

“Unfortunately, though, we determined that there is more than one person living there now,” the fire chief said of the deteriorating building that’s been a source of controversy in recent years and in February was targeted for demolition by city officials.

Evidence of bedding at the scene indicated the recent presence of multiple individuals, Poindexter explained, despite signs prohibiting its occupancy.

One person also had been at the scene of an initial fire at the former Koozies building in late November, who subsequently was charged with breaking and entering.

The man located there Tuesday morning was a different person, the fire chief said.

November’s fire is believed to have resulted from some kind of fire allegedly started to keep warm amid freezing temperatures, but that apparently was not the case with this week’s incident occurring amid summer-like conditions.

The earlier fire caused estimated damages of $1,000.

No monetary figure was listed for Tuesday’s blaze, with Poindexter explaining that it was difficult to distinguish any new damage from that resulting in November.

The multiple fires point to a disturbing trend, the fire chief said. “It’s sad to see how some people live.”

Signage might be placed at the scene, in addition to that already there, in a further attempt to prevent occupancy of the structure that has been declared dangerous and unfit for human habitation.

The Mount Airy News contacted the four candidates running for the North Carolina Senate District 36 seat, representing Mount Airy and Surry County. We presented the candidates with three questions, asking them to limit their answers to roughly 250 words per question. Here are their answers. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.

Shirley Randleman, 71, of Wilkesboro, has served in both the North Carolina House of Representatives, from 2009 to 2013, and in the State Senate, from 2013-2018. Prior to that she was a long-time Clerk of Superior Court for Wilkes County.

Question: In recent years, there has been a lot of public discussion on the role of government, big vs. small government, intrusion in private lives vs. basic freedoms, and the like. In your opinion, what is the role of the state government in North Carolina?

Randleman: First and foremost, the role of government is to protect our rights as citizens.

Question: What do you believe are the two or three biggest issues facing North Carolinians today, and how do you believe the state government should attack those issues?

Randleman: 1. K-12 education in North Carolina is a major issue with more parents seeking alternatives to public education. We need to create a K-12 education system that meets the needs of parents and students. And of course, teachers. Because of discipline issues, teachers and students should not go to school in fear for themselves because of a lack of discipline. We must demand accountability, discipline in the classrooms, parental involvement, and the use of common sense. I will work with The House Select Committee on an Education System for North Carolina’s future to expand what works and eliminate what doesn’t work. We need to get back to the basics of education “reading, writing, and mathematics” and demand an end to “social engineering” and the indoctrination of our most precious resource, our children.

2. Our counties and the entire state are trying to figure out how to deal with issues associated with mental health and substance abuse. Access to care is a major hurdle for these individuals as overdose deaths have reached record numbers. In the recent opioid settlement agreement, North Carolina will receive $750 million over the course of 18 years most of which will go to the counties to help people and communities impacted by the overdose crisis. With specific guidelines for how each county can use its share of the money, I will push for careful monitoring and oversight of the State Health Department to make sure the guidelines are being followed and that the funds are being used for their intended purpose.

Question: Why are you running for office, and why should voters cast a ballot for you? What sets you apart from your opponent?

Randleman: The Legislature is the law-making branch of government. I served as the elected Clerk of Superior Court for Wilkes County, working in the court system for 34 years. My job was to help people. I implemented, instructed on, and enforced the laws enacted by the legislature. In my role as a legislator, both in The North Carolina House and Senate, this practical experience enabled me to have input on matters being considered and how they would affect individuals and businesses in our communities using a common sense approach.

Eddie Settle, 62, of Pleasant Hill, is serving the his third term as a member of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners. He has spent four years as chairman of that board, as well as an additional three years as vice chairman. In addition, he has served on a number of community and civic organizations, including as a deacon at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, and with the Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital Auxiliary Board; as a North Carolina Agriculture Committee Chairman for 6 years; Wilkes County Economic Development; on the Wilkes County Library Board for four years; on the Wilkes County Airport Board; the High Country Council of Governments; as well as serving as chairman of the Wilkes County Social Services Board

QUESTION: In recent years, there has been a lot of public discussion on the role of government, big vs. small government, intrusion in private lives vs. basic freedoms, and the like. In your opinion, what is the role of the state government in North Carolina?

Settle: Since my experience is in business and agriculture, I firmly believe in smaller government. I have experienced the state mandates and federal government regulations stifling business. We are still trying to recover from the past two years of Gov. Cooper’s executive powers and mandates. I believe there should be no government mandate for vaccinations, wearing masks, closing businesses or churches. I believe in life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness without government intrusion. The role of state government should include providing good roads, educating our children without indoctrination. Another issue is protection from burning and looting our cities during peaceful protests. When i.e., peaceful protesters start burning and looting our cities, blocking our roads, government should stand with our law enforcement to protect the citizens.

QUESTION: What do you believe are two or three of the biggest issues facing North Carolinians today, and how do you believe the state government should attack those issues?

Settle: Our children are first and foremost the biggest issue. Public education has allowed some educational districts to take a critical turn of direction to indoctrinate our children with Critical Race Theory (CRT), sexism, and racism. Now is the time to take control of this issue! Our children have suffered over the past two years by too many state mandates.

Another issue is voter identification. Voter ID is needed to restore confidence in North Carolina’s election process.

QUESTION: Why are you running for office and why should voters cast a ballot for you? What sets you apart from your opponent?

Settle: I am running because, I can make a difference. I can work across the line and I have a record that supports this.

I am running for the futures of our children, and grandchildren. I am running for the elderly, the veterans, and the working class folks. I grew up being taught by my parents and grandparents, if you don’t’ work, you don’t eat. and that your good name is all you have. I believe in seeking God’s will in my life and the decisions that I make, because I believe in His promise.

What separates me from my opponents are that I believe Donald Trump proved a businessman can run this country better than a politician. I am a businessman and a farmer, not a politician.

Vann Tate, 57, of Mount Airy, is making a bid for his first elected office, “but I can offer 30 years of experience working in the government since that was my job as an NC State Highway Patrolman,” he said. Tates has held a number of volunteer posts over the years in community civic clubs and in his thurche. “When I retired as an NC State Trooper I established a partnership as president and co-owner of USA Investigative Services, LLC, where I work as a licensed private investigator.”

QUESTION: In recent years, there has been a lot of public discussion on the role of government, big vs. small government, intrusion in private lives vs. basic freedoms, and the like. In your opinion, what is the role of the state government in North Carolina?

Tate: I believe that the closer home a problem is managed, the easier it is to get a hold on. We are seeing difficulties that occur from regulations that come down from DC, meant for the entire country, but often cause concerns for one area while benefiting another. The more each individual state can manage the concerns that area has, the easier it is to manage, and the same goes for each individual county. Each county is like a family, with different needs, different financial setups, and it is more beneficial to keep the management of those needs confined as much as possible. Smaller government does not intrude as greatly into people’s private lives which allows them to feel the freedom that our US Constitution was written to provide us. The role of the state government in North Carolina is to protect those rights, to assure the residents that their lives are as protected as possible, even making new laws to provide that, and to even be the firewall between North Carolina’s citizens and federal regulations that might intrude on the way of life that has been established here in our great state.

QUESTION: What do you believe are the two or three biggest issues facing North Carolinians today, and how do you believe the state government should attack those issues?

Tate: The people of North Carolina need to feel protected in every way possible. It isn’t just a safety issue of having sufficient law enforcement to assure that we have licensed officers at hand, but it is also protection of our way of life. Unfortunately with the “Defund the Police” and the harassment of law enforcement over these past few years, our law enforcement entities have lost personnel, and many are still operating on limited staff. There needs to be encouragement and recruitment for these careers which will help all departments throughout the state. Another concern is also the pay that is available to these individuals who get into law enforcement. The county commissioners and town boards need to step forward along with the state departments to compensate these who serve and protect as they deserve.

The second part of protection is protecting the way of life we have enjoyed in North Carolina. So much of it has been under attack in these past years from our farmers facing unforeseen regulations along with natural disasters to our loss of businesses, both larger and small businesses due to Covid. There have been federal funds that have come into North Carolina from FEMA and from Covid allocations that were made available, but every week I am reading that those funds have also been abused. There must be better oversight as the funds are given out to see that those in need get what is promised as well as the money being invested wisely by the municipalities and counties. Along with the Covid influence has come a surge in population with an unforeseen influx moving primarily from the North into our state, causing a rush on the housing market. This has been profitable for some while putting a burden on our residents to find needed housing which is another developing concern.

And … third … is protection for our children. The new ideals and whims that are being pushed into our educational system need more evaluation before our children are subjected to them. It seems that the educational system has drifted from teaching the basics to often using our children as guinea pigs. Parents have made an impact by stepping forward and objecting which is a great sign because it is not up to the educational system to teach values to the students but something that needs to start at home.

QUESTION: Why are you running for office, and why should voters cast a ballot for you? What sets you apart from your opponent?

Tate: I have known for quite some time that my life experiences have given me much to be shared with others. I want to take to Raleigh what I have learned from working with various departments of the government and from first-hand knowledge of seeing our state laws put to work throughout the years. From my experience as a Trooper I have worked across all socio-economic lines, dealing with all segments from the distressed and needy all the way to working as member of the Security Detail for the Governor of North Carolina.

One thing that sets me apart from my opponents is that I am the youngest of the four so should have a few more years to devote to serving in the State Senate. I also have more diversity than the others seem to have since I have worked in state government and in the private sector as well as having lived and worked in several counties across North Carolina. Because of my years of experience in dealing with people, with some during the worst circumstances of their lives, I have learned to care about each one I encounter. People tell me they find me immediately trustworthy and compassionate and feel I care about their wellbeing. I certainly enjoy working with others, sharing viewpoints and concerns, and finding common ground with a sensible way to address concerns. The most important qualifier that sets me apart from the other candidates is integrity which has been the basis for my life, being honest and putting the needs of others first.

Lee Zachary, 75, of Yadkinville, has served four terms — eight years — in the North Carolina House of Representatives. He has also served as mayor of Yadkinville for four years, and as a member of the Yadkin Board of Commissioners for four years.

QUESTION: In recent years, there has been a lot of public discussion on the role of government, big vs. small government, intrusion in private lives vs. basic freedoms, and the like. In your opinion, what is the role of the state government in North Carolina?

Zachary: Overall, I favor less government involvement in citizens’ lives, although I recognize that there are areas in which the government, by virtue of its constitutional duties, needs to be involved. Those areas are transportation, education, and the courts. These three areas consume the vast majority of our tax dollars. By their nature and the number of citizens affected, these government agencies are very large, as they have to be in order to provide the service.

There are other areas of governmental intervention that are very important to the citizens of our state, such as mask mandates, employee vaccination requirements, and zoning issues. This country was founded on individual rights and the right to own and control your property, and I strongly support our Constitution. The less intrusion by government into our individual rights and right to own and control our property, the better.

QUESTION: What do you believe are the two or three biggest issues facing North Carolinians today, and how do you believe the state government should attack those issues?

Zachary: One significant issue is the need to expand broadband internet service across our state. Broadband internet services are provided by communication and utility providers, and require large capital outlays. The best way for government to encourage expansion is by providing loans and grants to the providers. I will continue to support these projects, particularly in rural areas where the requisite capital may not be as available as in urban areas.

It is clear that one of the biggest issues facing our state is election integrity. If the public does not have confidence in the integrity of our elections, the public will not respect our laws and will lose faith in our government. The state has enacted laws to make the voting machines “tamper proof.” However, I have been informed that the real election integrity problem in North Carolina is the failure to purge the voter rolls of deceased voters. To rectify this problem, I am preparing legislation that would require the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHS) to send death certificates each month to local boards of election, which the local boards would be mandated to use to purge the voter rolls of deceased persons, and then to certify the changes to the State Board of Elections, where the State voter rolls could be amended. This would make voter fraud much more difficult to accomplish in North Carolina.

Another major issue facing our state is public education. Under our Constitution, the unelected members of the State Board of Education are charged with “supervising and administering the free public school system.” The elected Superintendent of Public Instruction is just the “secretary and chief administrative officer of the State Board of Education.” If the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction were in charge, we would not be dealing with Critical Race Theory or other such problems. I am currently working on a constitutional amendment to eliminate the unelected State Board of Education and put the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in charge of the Department of Public Instruction, as most North Carolinians think the superintendent is now.

QUESTION: Why are you running for office, and why should voters cast a ballot for you? What sets you apart from your opponent?

I am running for the NC Senate so that I can continue to help citizens with problems that they have with the state government. I feel that I am the best qualified candidate to serve the people of this district. As a current member of the NC House, I know the members of the NC Senate, having served with most of them for several years and worked successfully with them on legislation. As a lawyer, I know how to read legislation, how to write legislation, and how to make sure the legislation says what we want it to say and not what someone else tells you it says. I am also a veteran, and a proven conservative, having received the Certificate of Conservative Excellence from the American Conservative Union Foundation for my commitment to American constitutional principles.

If you like the job we’ve been doing in Raleigh to reduce taxes, set back money for the rainy day fund, fight the tax and spend crowd, protect 2nd Amendment Rights, and expand school of choice legislation, then I am a proven vote for conservative issues.

And I would appreciate your vote in the Republican primary!

An arrest has been made in the shooting death of a city teen who was found lying in a street near his home last September, the Mount Airy Police Department announced Monday afternoon.

Marquis Reginald Hatcher, 28, of 139 Vance St., Dobson, is charged with murder in the case involving John Martinez Flores, 18, who lived in the 2100 block of North Main Street.

Flores was fatally shot outside his residence on the night of Sept. 21, police say.

City officers who were responding to a requested security check in that area located the wounded teen near the intersection of North Main Street and Jones School Road shortly after midnight, according to previous reports. He had received multiple gunshot wounds.

Flores was transported by the Surry County Emergency Medical Service to a Winston-Salem hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

The teen’s death sparked an investigation that not only involved the Mount Airy Police Department but the Surry County Sheriff’s Office and N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. It also included an appeal to the public for information about the shooting.

In the weeks and months after the homicide, authorities were able to develop evidence through countless interviews and other investigative means.

“It was very extensive with different agencies and the fact everyone worked together,” city Police Chief Dale Watson said Tuesday of what it took to crack the case.

“The teamwork has been phenomenal,” Watson added.

The investigative efforts led to the issuance of a felony arrest warrant for Hatcher for the murder of Flores.

“We feel it was drug-related,” the police chief advised Tuesday of the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting. “The investigation is still ongoing.”

Hatcher has a history of drug arrests, including serving time in prison for narcotics-related charges.

He is now being held in the Surry County Jail without privilege of bond,

Hatcher’s first scheduled court appearance is on May 25 in Surry District Court.

Records show he has a number of other cases pending in Superior Court, unrelated to the Flores shooting, including charges of felony assault, inflicting serious bodily injury; felonious possession of a Schedule II controlled substance; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; maintaining a drug vehicle/dwelling place; possession of heroin with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver; breaking and entering to terrorize/injure; and others.

Cycles and patterns in life happen, we frequently choose to look at them and dismiss them as a random coincidence. However, other times these cycles occur because it can be human nature to follow the path of least resistance and stay in unhealthy patterns.

Such may be the case for those in the criminal justice system for whom it can be ever more difficult to break the cycle of incarceration that, left unchecked, may find itself as the worst hand-me-down item between generations.

Wayne Farms is entering a partnership with Surry County Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt in a new job reentry program that seeks to break the cycle of recidivism while filling staffing needs at one of the county’s largest employers.

Guinea pigs at a poultry plant

Certified Peer Support Specialist Sonya Cheek said, “This cannot work without assistance from the sheriff and Mr. Wooten at Wayne Farms.”

“This is my community,” Matthew Wooten, Dobson Complex manager for Wayne Farms, said while posing for photos with Sheriff Hiatt, Cheek, and a phalanx from the sheriff’s office. When hearing of the program, it sounded like a no brainer to him, “I said ‘I like it, let’s do it!’”

Wayne Farms has a history of being an active member of the community. He said he was not scared to be the “guinea pig” for this program, and they know there may be growing pains with Wooten joking, “Experiment on me.”

“This is not a guarantee of a job, this is an opportunity,” he said, saying that these candidates will be treated like any others.

Cheek has been granted unfettered access to Wayne Farms and will be the point of contact between Wayne Farms and the county’s work reentry program. She will have to ability to make ad hoc visits onto their property to conduct onsite check-ins.

“We have a responsibility to help Wayne Farms keep the employee,” she said, “not plug them in and forget about them.” That means complying with mandated follow up and case management on a regular basis.

Sheriff Hiatt pointed that Insteel had approached him in 2019 about participating in a job reentry program, but the county was not ready at that time. Also, Leonard previously expressed some interest in participating as well. “The largest employer in the county took a chance – we want other businesses to participate,” Willis said of Wayne Farms.

Interestingly, Forsyth County had reached out to Wayne Farms to do something similar and that sparked the idea for Wooten to reach out to Surry County and inquire about a similar program with Sheriff Hiatt.

Willis, the low-key directory of the county’s substance abuse response, admits he is “more of a systems guy” than anything else. The county needs his expertise on the admin side, he needs help from the likes of Cheek, Charlotte Reeves, and a bevy of volunteers. “I do not have the inside the bubble experience. It would be like me trying to empathize with childbirth.”

When a 3 a.m. collect call comes in, it is answered by Cheek, one of the lynchpins in the county’s new job reentry partnership between the sheriff’s office and Wayne Farms. That process will be greatly simplified because Pay Tel, a private company that has released a tablet for use inside of corrections facilities, will soon load assessments for work reentry onto the devices.

They will contain a questionnaire for those inmates nearing the full completion of their sentence and who have a desire for employment. Inmates will be identified, and then pre-screened using the tablet.

It is not hard to see the time savings if Cheek were to get an assessment back saying one inmate has heavy equipment experience, while another has mechanical aptitude. She also said the tablets are slated to have some educational material added onto them as well, including substance abuse education.

There is a reason subject matter experts get placed in roles like Cheek. She recalls being so scared the first time she was asked to speak to a group but, “Right off the bat I felt like this is what I needed to do.”

Having been down and out she knows the view from down there and would really like to keep others from knowing that pain. These people who are entering the work program have completed their sentence and have done what was required of them in form of legal penance.

Now, what follows them most frequently from the detention center is a stigma. Cheek said for her, what made a difference was someone taking a chance on her. Now, she is a county employee working day and night to help inmates re-entering society find their footing and attempt to break that cycle for good.

“Hope doesn’t exist in a jail. So, when we can say – hang on, there may be a business who is hiring – that can be a game changer.”

The Farm to Feet sock brand of a Mount Airy company not only is focused on manufacturing products for the outdoor recreational market, but now blending that with inclusion and diversity.

Farm to Feet, which is associated with Nester Hosiery, has collaborated with an entity known as Black Folks Camp Too (BFCT) to create a new Unity Blaze sock style.

It is aimed at promoting BFCT’s mission to remove fear, add knowledge and invite more African-American folks to experience the activity of camping and enjoy outdoor lifestyles with others.

This is coinciding with the development of what is described as a three-quarter crew technical hiking sock featuring Black Folks Camp Too’s Unity Blaze logo. That symbol is denoted by two crossed logs and a campfire meant to promote the forging of bonds across all aspects of adventure and universal equality.

“Black Folks Camp Too is bringing more people into the outdoors, including many right in our backyard in North Carolina,” Matt Brucker, Farm to Feet general manager, said in a statement. Brucker became general manager of Nester Hosiery brands earlier this year, including Farm to Feet.

The new Unity Blaze socks are available on websites of both Farm to Feet and Black Folks Camp Too, along with select retailers, with a larger rollout to all Farm to Feet retailers scheduled this August. A portion of proceeds from the sale of the sock style will benefit BFCT.

“Our Unity Blaze socks are not just any kind of socks,” Earl B. Hunter Jr., who founded Black Folks Camp Too in 2019, said in a statement. “Our socks are helping folks signal to the world that they treat everyone, everywhere, equally while encouraging more unity in the outdoor community — together, we are changing the world one campfire at a time.”

At the core of Black Folks Camp Too’s mission is the belief that when more African-Americans become active camping enthusiasts and begin enjoying outdoor lifestyles, it will help break down barriers to create more-inclusive communities and stronger relationships overall.

“Working with Earl and the team at Black Folks Camp Too, together we can encourage more people to explore the outdoors and experience its rejuvenating power while inviting others to join us and increase diversity in the outdoors,” added Brucker.

The Unity Blaze technical hiker sock of Farm to Feet/Black Folks Camp Too is designed with targeted cushioning and ventilation to provide all-day comfort on the trail while naturally regulating temperature. It features a 19.5-micron merino wool knit with materials sourced entirely from U.S. ranchers.

These socks also contain a seamless toe closure that reduces the chances of blisters, according to promotional information. Comfort compression helps lower fatigue while reinforcement in critical areas ensures durability.

Farm to Feet, promoted as a maker of 100% American socks, turns out that footwear in its sustainability focused facility in Mount Airy said to employ the highest-level knitting techniques possible.

The brand prides itself on producing the most-comfortable and feature-rich socks available under the belief that socks are meant for the outdoors — designed for everyone to follow his or her own trail.

Farm to Feet also is committed to improving the outdoor recreational experience and advocating for the protection of wild places, says a company announcement about its collaboration with Black Folks Camp Too.

The Unity Blaze sock retails for $25, with more details on it and how to find a local retailer or buy online available at www.farmtofeet.com.

Andy and Opie would’ve been proud of those attending a weekend Healthy Family Hooplah fishing event in Mount Airy, who didn’t let water from the sky keep their hooks from the waters of Tumbling Rock Reservoir.

Although Saturday’s forecast called for only a slight chance of rain, intermittent sprinkles managed to work their way into the proceedings at the Westwood Park fishing facility which went on regardless.

Such an event, designed to give local families and kids the chance to experience the joys of angling, had not been held locally for the past two years due to the coronavirus and everyone seemed to relish its resumption.

The gathering not only provided rods, reels and bait to those lacking them while allowing participants to take home what they reeled in, but prizes for fish caught, hot dogs and trimmings, face painting and more — all for the incredibly low price of free.

Those who were younger than 16 also did not even need a fishing license to cast lines into the freshly stocked reservoir, either from a pier or along its banks.

Saturday’s scheduled five-hour affair combined the organizational efforts of Surry/Stokes Friends of Youth Inc., the Women’s League of Mount Airy, the Mount Airy Police Department, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and others.

Those attending the Healthy Family Hoopla included both veteran anglers and novices taking advantage of the opportunity to explore the pastime of fishing that has helped one while away many a country day.

“Actually, this is my first time fishing and it is really fun,” said Amelia Jayde Hazelwood, 12, a student at Central Middle School in Dobson.

“It is really calming,” she explained, citing the chance to get away from the pressures of the outside work and partake of the simple pleasures of looking at lily pads in the water and the reassuring ripples of the current.

Gracie Edgar, another 12-year-old of Pilot Mountain Middle School who was fishing alongside her friend from Central Middle, was impressed by “how quiet it is” while fishing. “We sometimes hear a little baby in the background, but that’s OK.”

The two youths had not yet mastered the art of casting, but seemed to improve as time passed. Then there was a matter of waiting for the floating cork to disappear from the surface and exhibit the telltale bobbing motion that indicates a bite.

“I can never be patient enough to see it go in the water,” Amelia said while recasting her line a number of times.

Saturday’s foray at the park did not seem to reap as many denizens of the deep as previous events, despite the reservoir being recently stocked with catfish that joined sunfish and bass already there.

This seemed partly due to the cool wet weather that prevailed during the day.

“It’s a little early in the year for catfish to start biting,” Fisheries Biologist Kin Hodges of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission added while passing out rods and reels. “I think they’re taking the morning off.”

Yet there were still folks on hand trying to catch fish, no matter how elusive, and regardless of what Mother Nature served up Saturday.

“It is a great turnout with the weather,” said Surry/Stokes Friends of Youth Executive Director Tamara Veit.

“The ‘Y’ described as ‘the finest in the South,’ will be open to public inspection at the formal opening and the YMCA officials cordially invite the people of Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina, and Virginia to attend the long-awaited event. Over 3,000 people are expected to attend.” Mount Airy News, May 2, 1952.

May 4, marks 70 years since the Reeves YMCA center opened for the first time near downtown Mount Airy.

The recreation site located at 113 S Renfro Street has boasted decades of programming for children and adults alike. Families all over Surry County and beyond have used the resources of this community gathering place to stay in shape, participate in group sports, and cool off on hot summer days.

John M. Reeves, a Mount Airy native, donated $150,000 to a local YMCA project that was being promoted by J.F. Yokley within the county. This campaign began in 1943 and received attention and donors from all over the Mount Airy community and surrounding towns and communities.

The groundbreaking for the building happened seven years later. Some news articles consider Dec. 20, 1950, as the official date; others say Jan. 30, 1951. Regardless of the start date, this new project was projected to contain some of the newest technology and modern designs. The original building plans outlined a four-story structure; these were soon changed because of the availability of materials and other resources due to war-time constraints.

In February of 1952, the Reeves YMCA was granted a charter from the national organization, allowing the YMCA organization to run the center, while Reeves Community Center still owned the facility. The following months saw multiple news articles about the community center’s programs, staff, facilities, and funding. A large formal opening for the facilities was held on May 4, 1952, at 3 p.m. and this celebration even included a large parade down Main Street where many kids rode their bicycles. The project total came in at around $600,000 and had a lot to show for it.

Once opened, Reeves housed a state-of-the-art snack bar that served sandwiches and soft drinks, a dining space, and a fully equipped kitchen. The 10 Brunswick bowling alleys, a leader in the bowling industry, cost 10 cents for kids willing to set their pins, 15 cents for league games, and 20 cents for normal recreation. Two outdoor pools offered swimming and exercise and countless other equipment was added to the gymnasium and other rec rooms.

Through the years, some things have changed. In 1984, $1 million was raised to renovate the then 32-year-old building. The bowling lanes, snack bar, and kitchen were removed, as well as other edits helped to keep Reeves up to date on more modern recreation trends. In 1995 one of the two pools was enclosed to create an all-weather swimming facility.

Sometime during the 1970s, the original agreement with the YMCA was dropped and Reeves Community Center was self-operated. In 2005 the City of Mount Airy incorporated the Reeves Community Center under the umbrella of the Mount Airy Parks and Recreation. Today the center boasts more than 60,000 square feet of recreation space, including basketball courts, pools, cycling rooms, a sauna, and more. The facility is still offering group events, such as camps during the summer. Stop by sometime this week and say happy anniversary or simply get your sweat on.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478, extension 229.

Thursday saw a competition in Pilot Mountain that pitted the business acumen of budding high school entrepreneurs against one another in a test of skill and moxie. YESurry is their chance to dip a toe into the proverbial shark tank without the fear of losing a limb or being eaten for lunch.

Teams from local high schools made a pitch presentation for their businesses. Students were encouraged to look around for a need where a new business or service would be useful. The students must then double back after all groups have gone for an “elevator pitch.”

“You will be talking to our Mr. Moneybags, who is very rich and invests in new companies,” Sue Brownfield explained to the students. “Suddenly, you are riding up in an elevator with Mr. Moneybags. So, you need to ‘pitch’ yourselves and your company – you want Mr. Moneybags to say ‘Meet with me next Monday at 10 a.m.’”

The winner of the competition was Grace Phillips of North Surry High for Grace Got Cakes. Phillips said, “I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I’ve been trying to start businesses since I was like 5 years old, so this just means a whole lot, and I’m excited for the future of Grace Got Cakes.”

She took home prize money totaling $2,500 to put toward her business. She acknowledged kids her age are not usually trying to run a business and “it has taken a toll on my social life for sure. I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with my friends.

“I see the value of doing this over going out, but I try to balance my social life and take breaks and hang out with friends. In the long term this is going to do more for me than going to parties.” It appears ‘work-life balance’ has entered high school curriculum.

Diana Casares-Carapia got up at 3 a.m. to make her confections for the competition before then going class for the day. She made a tasty pitch and Confectionery Diana took home a $1,000 check for second place, paired with $500 for winning at her school level.

She began baking to help her family make ends meet during COVID. She now has outstanding orders she needs help filling and requested investors to, “Invest in me.” Having taken business classes at Surry Early College, Casares-Carapia is ready to open her own store in Dobson upon graduation.

Elkin High came in third which doubled their initial winnings to $1,000 for Students Pay Students. Braden Oliver and Luke Burchette made their elevator pitch for an online hub where students, with teacher recommendation, can apply to tutor other students. They mentioned building a sense of camaraderie amongst the students as they aid one another.

“Find your niche,” keynote speaker Will Pfitzner encouraged the students. “There are hundreds of thousands of other people interested in what you are.”

He went on to discuss the dangers of rampant consumerism as a means by which to seek self-identity. Digital identities will lessen the desire to buy things to gain a sense of self or status. With increased access to information, he encouraged the students to be mindful of media “brainwashing” and seek their own information.

YESurry launched at Mount Airy High in 2019 and quickly grew to all seven high schools. Brownfield said the entries this year were “a notch above. They really elevated their game.”

“We want them to become business savvy: how do you start a business, how to do a business plan, a financial plan, what is your competition, how do you network,” she explained. “The advisors have challenged their team for the last several months.”

“The competition asks them to pool and hone skills they have already learned in school and supplement those with new skills,” advisor Greg Perkins said.

“I have personally seen my team develop the poise and confidence to present convincingly to business decision makers, to experience the highs and lows of product and business plan development and display the patience to complete those processes,” said the president of Perkins Financial in Mount Airy.

From inception of the concept through development of a business plan on to the final presentation takes effort. Learning to collaborate, synthesize ideas, and develop executable plans are skills that will benefit these students wherever life takes them.

“The competition is an incredible opportunity for kids to learn what the ‘real world’ is going to expect from them,” Perkins said. It should then also show the students what to expect in return and hitting an obstacle is something they will contend with.

Rejection is not a lesson anyone wants to learn, but it is a fact of business life that not every venture will succeed. For some, a cold business lesson was dispensed in a more palatable format than a door slammed shut with a rejection later in life.

“These kids are learning to conquer the fears that keep many adults from pursuing the entrepreneurial urges,” Perkins observed, “the conquering of which provides our next generation of job creators and community leaders.” The incubation of the next generation of teachers, business, and industry leaders in and for Surry County is a recurring drumbeat that is growing louder from different corners of he county.

“A lot of times we hear about young people who leave the county and never come back,” Todd Tucker said previously of keynote speaker and first-ever Entrepreneur of the Year award winner Will Pfitzner. “His story is just the opposite.”

Pfitzner is the NCSU alumni who decided to chase something he enjoyed doing rather than the almighty dollar. His ‘local man makes good and returns to Mayberry to much adulation’ story is a tale business and community leaders alike would like to see replicated.

He also alluded to the fact that the traditional four-year college track is not for everyone. Therefore, programs such as YESurry create opportunities for students to envision a different path forward both for themselves and Surry County.

These young adults put their skills to the test and while Grace Phillips won the day, the community altogether may be the ultimate winner.

Higher gas prices naturally are causing would-be tourists to question their travel plans — even to favored destinations such as Mayberry-rich Mount Airy — but a local official sees the fallout from another issue, COVID, boosting other attractions.

“People are looking for places to get away from germs,” Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Jessica Roberts told the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners during a quarterly update at a meeting last week. “People are focused on getting outdoors.”

That conforms with plans for North Carolina to celebrate the Year of the Trail in 2023, for which Surry County is well-positioned with facilities such as Pilot Mountain State Park, Roberts said in highlighting both present and upcoming trends.

“For the upcoming year we are embracing everything outdoors,” she added, also including wine trails, greenway facilities, mountain biking trails, venues with fire pits and other nature-oriented attractions.

A foundation already exists for that with visits to state parks last year up 1.2 million over pre-pandemic levels, according to information provided by Roberts showing travellers are now more cautious about where they go and for how long.

“They want a clean place to visit.”

For now, though, there are concerns about fuel prices and the related problem of inflation.

“Gas prices is going to be a factor in some of these things,” the local tourism official said of trips involving vehicular transports. “I don’t think it will hugely impact us as much as other cities.”

Roberts says many people from other locations are calling the Mount Airy Visitors Center to inquire about gasoline prices locally.

There is also a trend of consumers not making long-range travel plans due to the uncertainties tied to that and the economy overall, with Roberts citing factors showing that 95% of those arriving in North Carolina come by automobile.

Based on the results of one national survey appearing in March, almost 60% of American travelers say that the recent increased cost of gas will impact their decision to take trips over the next six months.

Of those, nearly one-third of the respondents predict that the impact will be great for them.

Roberts says this is playing out locally.

“People aren’t planning as far in advance right now,” she advised regarding folks being reluctant to forge long-range commitments as they have in the past due to fuel prices and inflation. “It’s kind of a last-minute decision people are making.”

The Mount Airy tourism official also presented survey results showing that if gasoline prices don’t drop, more than half of travelers will take fewer road trips this summer (56%) and choose to stay closer to home (60%).

While all this is occurring, the tourism industry is gearing up for the growing trend of electric vehicles over the next 10 years, Roberts said.

This includes trying to develop more charging stations locally, with the tourism official pointing out that she knows of only one existing now in Mount Airy, at the Sheetz convenience store on U.S. 601.

Efforts are under way to have hotels add charging stations to make it more convenient for visitors to power up their vehicles, Roberts said.

Despite gas prices/inflation, the war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the coronavirus, road trip activity has quietly returned to 2019 levels, based on information from Roberts showing the situation to be stable at present.

Occupancy tax figures reported by the city of Mount Airy show revenues being strong, increasing consistently since March 2021 to January 2022 collections — the most recent period for which numbers are available.

For example, ones for November 2021 were up 70% from November 2020, and those for last August jumped 63% from the previous year.

In the period from July 2021 through January 2022, occupancy tax revenues collected by local lodging establishments increased 48.3% from the same period the year before.

Roberts says efforts are underway to increase visitation to this area during the traditionally slower period from November to March.

While the totals haven’t approached those for the last election in the fall of 2020 when a hotly contested presidential election was involved, one-stop early voting has gotten off to a healthy start across Surry County.

The first in-person ballots for a May 17 primary were cast on Thursday, with a total of 327 people showing up at four early voting stations in the county.

Mount Airy was the busiest location, drawing 56% of the voters among the four sites.

It is located in the Surry County Government Center at 1218 State St. behind Arby’s. Others are available at the Surry Board of Elections headquarters at 915 E. Atkins St. in Dobson; the Pilot Mountain Rescue Squad, 615 E. U.S. 52-Bypass, in the former Howell Funeral Home location; and the Elkin Rescue Squad building on North Bridge Street.

Traffic seemed light for the first day of early voting in Mount Airy — with 29 people reportedly arriving during the first two hours from 8 to 10 a.m. But Surry’s elections director said Thursday’s results overall exceeded those for a comparable primary.

Ahead of a 2018 primary election similar to what is occurring this year, early voters averaged 216 per day countywide.

That year, the Dobson site was open from April 19 to May 5, with the Mount Airy, Pilot Mountain and Elkin locations operating from April 30 to May 5.

“So we are above the 2018 average for yesterday,” county Director of Elections Michella Huff advised Friday, when another 71 voters had cast ballots at the four sites as of 11 a.m.

In contrast, for the opening day of the presidential-year primary on Oct. 15, 2020 — in the midst of the pandemic —a total of 1,013 people had voted at all four locations by 12:30 p.m. Lines of people waited at each, with 2,436 logged for the day as a whole.

The schedule for the early voting cycle now underway is 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays at all locations, with no Sunday hours involved. The service ends on May 14, the Saturday before the actual primary day, which is a prelude to the general election in November.

Along with allowing Surry residents to cast ballots before the primary day and avoid possible long lines then, one-stop early voting/same-day registration provides a reprieve to unregistered voters who missed a regular registration deadline on April 22.

They can register during the early voting period at any of the four Surry locations and immediately cast a ballot at that same site. However, those who did not register by the regular deadline will not be allowed to vote on the primary day itself.

Same-day registrants must prove their residency by displaying either a North Carolina driver’s license, a photo ID issued by a government agency, a copy of a current utility bill or a current college photo ID card along with proof of campus habitation.

Huff has said that 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election on Nov. 8 are eligible to register and vote in the primary.

More than 300 area students turned out Thursday for the second annual Student Job Fair held by the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s been a great event,” said chamber president and CEO Randy Collins.

The fair is aimed at high school juniors and seniors, along with college students, who are looking to get into the area workforce, either for long-term employment, summer work, or for internships.

There were 48 vendors on site, with booths set up to give students a taste of what their particular business and field might look like. It was also a chance for area employers to make contact with prospective employees and interns.

Lenise Lynch, general manager at Hampton Inn of Mount Airy, said her business could definitely use additional employees, particularly in housekeeping, on the front desk, in the laundry and maintenance departments.

She said working with youth just coming out of high school or college is an ideal situation for the hotel and for the prospective employee — as she believes it would be for most any business.

“It is a chance for a business to be able to help them learn what is expected (in the workforce),” she said, adding that young people in their first or second job are often easier to mold and train into being a strong employee.

“We can catch them coming out of high school and help them begin a great career,” she said. In her industry, she said it is possible to start out in most any position and move up into management, even ownership.

“I’ve been doing this for 16 years,” she said. Lynch began working at the Hampton Inn as a front-desk attendant, and within two years was the general manager, a position she has held since then.

Collins said that is exactly the idea behind the job fair, to help students learn there are career opportunities in their hometown.

“We hope the students realize there are some good paying jobs right here in our community,” he said, steady jobs that can be a career.

Staff Sgt. William Arnder with the North Carolina Army National Guard said Thursday was a good day for him and his colleague working at the job fair.

“We had more than 25 who signed up,” he said, referring to students who had given him their contact information and expressed interest in exploring work with the Guard. He said he was hoping to see 15 to 20 folks who would sign on with the Guard from Thursday’s event.

Arnder said most the positions with the Guard are essentially part-time posts, with some weekends and summertime required, but that in addition to the pay someone can earn, the Guard also offers opportunities for troops to have college paid for.

Anna Johnson and Brenna Belcher with Xtreme! Marketing said they had quite a few folks interested in their display.

“A lot of kids are interested in graphic design and digital marketing,” Johnson said, adding that her firm is looking to expand with more work coming in than they can do with the present sized staff. Several students left resumes or completed applications there.

Teresa Grimm of Hardy Brothers Trucking said her booth attracted many students.

“We’ve had quite a few of them who wanted to be mechanics,” she said. “One, she specifically wanted to be a diesel mechanic.”

While her firm can definitely use mechanics, she said their biggest need is for drivers. Her firm needs both drivers to run regional routes who typically make two or three runs a week covering a total of 2,000 to 3,000 miles; and long-term drivers going coast-to-coast. For those going west and back, she said the company generally likes two-person driving teams, and a husband and wife team is often perfect for such runs.

Grimm said her company refers students interested in this field to the truck driving program at Surry Community College.

Among the four dozen local businesses with booths set up was Northern Regional Hospital, staffed by Daniel Combs, who works in the hospital’s staff development and student programs, and Vanessa Bottomley, a unit coordinator in the emergency department.

Bottomley said the two used a CPR simulator to show youth how to determine if someone needs CPR, and how to administer the often life-saving maneuver.

“We probably had 100 kids use that today,” she said.

While medical-related jobs are what most people think of when considering a hospital-related career, Combs said he tried to emphasize to those visiting that there are other jobs there.

“We have people in marketing, people who work in the labs, who do x-rays. One young lady said she wasn’t interested in any of those, she wanted to go into accounting. I told her, we have accountants, too.”

Bottomley emphasized that the job fair may have been aimed at showing students the job opportunities in Surry County and Mount Airy, it also is a time for the hospital and other employers to learn about a whole new wave of potential workers.

“We have very good talent right here,” she said of folks in the community.

It was an unintentional coincidence that is a metaphor for a larger problem, and one that needs to be addressed. Representatives from the Surry County Association of Rescue Squads took their turn making 2022-23 budget presentations to the county commissioners Tuesday.

A scheduled two hours turned into a four-hour budgetary slog, with the board managing more business afterward behind closed doors.

Everyone in the room from the school superintendents, commissioners, county staff, down to the deputy in the lobby on guard was getting compensated to be there in one way or another.

Except the five men sent to represent the rescue squads, the 100% volunteer force that is the opposite hand of the 18 fire departments.

Vice Chairman Eddie Harris has sat on the board for some time and is aware of the nature of the local fire district and volunteer rescue squad model in use for Surry County. Even he asked once for clarification from the men on their volunteer status as it is somewhat baffling to consider there is not a single full or part-time paid employee on the five rescue squads.

The rescue squad volunteers sat and listened while waiting to make their budget request of just over $314,000. Last year they operated on a budget of $276,000, which had been a cut from the previous year.

They noted in presenting the data the cost of operating a rescue squad is not wholly different from that of a fire department, but funding and compensation are another matter entirely.

“We and fire go hand-in-hand,” Nathan Webb of Mount Airy Rescue Squad said of their first response cousins. The rescue squads and fire departments have some overlapping services, some fire houses offer rescue services while others do not.

Funding the rescue squads is a piecemeal affair that combines county contributions with monies from the United Fund of Surry. Donations from the public are an extremely important part of their funding. While their budgetary allotments went down during COVID donations, to their pleasant surprise, went up. The board was told that public donations were the “best in decades.”

The juxtaposition of that largesse is the part of this story that is harder to talk about. These are volunteer rescue squads and there is simply not the appetite to be found to participate. “When I took over seven years ago, I had 35, now I have 28 members on my squad. Volunteerism is at an all-time low,” Webb noted.

As the area and its workforce have changed dramatically over the past decades, it was noted that transition also added to the problem. “It’s not like the 90s when everyone could just leave the mill. We don’t live in that world anymore.”

Webb said they need to move into a world where these rescue squads have some paid staff, and they also suggested establishing some defined boundaries for the rescue squads as well. Currently, the squads are covering 177 square miles including three southern Virginia counties and offering rescue services to Stokes County.

The squads often arrive before county EMS or local fire on the scene to triage and begin care at that most critical moment, when seconds could make all the difference. A full 85% of the squads’ calls are for medical assistance as opposed to the specialized rescue for which they are also trained.

When it comes to funding it is nearly impossible for the squads to make inroads on grants. “Most nationally funded money and state money is tailored for fire department and EMS, we are somewhere in the middle and that sets us at a disadvantage,” Webb said. A grant that was approved in 2015 only came through fully in 2021, he said, so even getting approval may not yield relief.

Call volume versus compensation needs to come into better alignment somehow, they feel. For the 18 fire departments, excluding the two city departments, he quoted their call volume at over 12,000. The average compensation to the fire departments per call they run is $457.

Contrast that with the rescue squads which answered more than 4,300 calls yet their compensation is $69 per call. Webb said when you break that down further, the squads who respond to more calls get even less, Mount Airy Rescue Squad he noted gets close to $31 per call.

“It’s come to the point where the squads are suffering, we’re really suffering,” Dennis Manuel chief of Pilot Mountain Rescue said.

“We are no longer treading water, we seem to be underwater in a lot of places,” Webb said. He noted radios are an issue with spotty coverage and will need replacement. The squads are having issues with vehicles aging out, each noting having vehicles from the 1990s and early 2000s that will need replacing.

The squads made it clear that they are not asking for much, and never a penny that would be taken from their fire and EMS brethren. That said, depending on the generosity of the public as a primary form of funding seems fraught with peril.

Chris Wall of the Mount Airy Rescue squad perked up as the meeting was wrapping and asked for a moment to speak as a member of the squad, and a full-time firefighter, “All five of us have put in beaucoup hours to get re-certified,” he said of his more than 794 hours of certification and annual re-certification.

“There is a lot of stuff we do that is similar to the fire departments, but it is not the same job. As a firefighter, I could not do it without these guys. We need the rescue squads.”

Area children and youth — along with their families — will have the chance for some traditional summer fun, along with a free hot dog meal, on Saturday at Westwood Park.

The Surry/Stokes Friends of Youth Inc. will be bringing back its annual family and fishing day from a two-year pandemic-forced break. This year’s event, formally known as a Healthy Family Hooplah, will include games for the kids, face painting, the hot dog meal, and plenty of fishing in a freshly stocked Tumbling Rock Reservoir.

The group will have of free rods, reels, and bait for folks to use as well, according to Tamara Veit of the Friends of Youth.

“There will be plenty of fish stocked,” she said. “Anyone will be able to just drop a line in and catch some fish.”

Not only can folks keep their fish for grilling or cooking, every caught fish earns a ticket, and each ticket is worth a prize.

“The Women’s League of Mount Airy has donated tons and tons of prizes,” she said.

As for the hot dog meal, Veit said the Mount Airy Police Department will be on hand with grills, working to keep hungry fishers full.

“And everything is free,” she emphasized.

Prior to the pandemic, the event was an annual gathering, started first by the Women’s League, who then partnered with the Friends of Youth to keep the event going.

“It gives families something healthy to do,” she said of the day’s events. “We’re not sitting staring at screens. They’s getting out, talking, catching fish…having fun.”

She said her group will even be offering shuttle rides from the parking lot at the top of the hill down to the fishing and playing area, so that long climb is not even an excuse to stay away.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will be on hand as well, to help out with the fishing.

“Say there’s a single mom who’s never been fishing in her life, she can show up with two or three kids,” and the commission will have someone there to help get the group started, and help them out when they catch some fish.

For more experienced fishing fans, Veit said the water is open as well, and folks can bring their own equipment if they desire. Anyone age 16 or older, however, will need a valid fishing permit. Youth younger than that do not need one.

With the event being cancelled over the past two years because of the pandemic, Veit said she’s not sure exactly how many people will take part, but she’s hoping for a big crowd.

“In 2019, we had more than 400 people,” she said, and the organizers are hoping for an equal, or greater, turn-out this time.

The Healthy Family Hooplah gets underway at 9 a.m. and lasts until 2 p.m. Anyone wanting more information can call 336-789-9064.

Mount Airy officials have taken action to stimulate the development of more housing downtown, but one commissioner worries that this could bring “unintended consequences” with parking availability.

The key part of the plan involves the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners’ approval of a Downtown Fire-Suppression Life and Safety Grant program in a 5-0 vote last Thursday night.

In a related move, the board also decided unanimously to amend a city ordinance to require that a sophisticated type of sprinkler system be installed for applicable residential occupancies.

The motivation for the fire-suppression grant initiative is a recognition that the economic future of Mount Airy’s central business district hinges on both commercial and residential development, City Stan Farmer said in presenting the plan.

Such growth requires significant commitments of private investment for building rehabilitation and construction. This presents a particular challenge with fire-suppression requirements for older structures, of which downtown Mount Airy has its share, Farmer reminded.

The offering of incentive grants is designed to help offset the expenses involved with that, not only stimulating additional investment in properties downtown but protecting what’s already there in terms of its historic character. This will reduce the chances of a major fire destroying multiple buildings located side by side — perhaps an entire block.

“Cooking fires are the number one cause of fires in our city and I think I’ve told you that many times,” Mount Airy Fire Chief Zane Poindexter said in recommending the requirement for NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) 13R sprinkler systems at a minimum downtown to the commissioners.

“We want to be proactive and get out in front of this,” Poindexter said of having mechanisms in place to prevent a cooking fire from spreading.

Most importantly, the city manager emphasized, public safety downtown will be greatly improved through the grant program he said will go into effect at some point after the municipality’s next fiscal year begins on July 1.

The maximum grant sum will be $35,000 per applicant, with eligibility requirements listing projects involving both new construction or remodeling of existing buildings, including cases in which water lines must be expanded to serve multiple structures.

Grants also will be available for installation of building sprinkler systems for projects with existing access to a water line.

Farmer explained that the fire-suppression grants will be offered for both downtown residential projects and building rehabilitation involving no housing units.

In reference to mandating the NFPA 13R sprinkler systems in the Downtown Fire District for residences, Poindexter explained that previous regulations called for NFPA 13D systems.

Unlike NFPA 13R, those systems do not provide alarms or alerts to the Fire Department, nor are there hydrant requirements. NFPA 13D is designed primarily for one- and two-family residences and townhomes, while the NFPA 13R type is intended for larger commercial residential spaces.

Poindexter said there a few cases downtown in which sprinklers would not be required for residential occupancy, such as buildings having adequate exits or firewalls in place.

The sprinkler change — and the grant program— apply only to the Downtown Fire District, which is slightly less in scope than the Municipal Service District long in place there.

No budget figure has been specified so far for the grant program, but Farmer plans to have it paid for through an annual allocation that will vary from year to year based on funding availability. The money will come from either the city’s general revenue fund or its separate water-sewer fund.

Receiving a grant requires a review process, including a pre-application procedure with city staff members to confirm eligibility.

A committee, including a local engineer, architect or contractor along with the fire chief and others, will make recommendations on grant awards, which also require a public hearing.

Two persons who are part of the downtown Mount Airy fabric voiced support for both actions during a public hearing preceding the pair of unanimous votes.

Main Street Coordinator Lizzie Morrison of the group Mount Airy Downtown Inc. applauded the new sprinkler system requirement as a way to protect life and valued property. This will help avoid a loss of historic architecture and longtime businesses which “would create a hole in the heart of the community,” Morrison said.

Downtown Mount Airy now has a tax base of $55 million and growing, she pointed out, which would be threatened otherwise.

“We are all aware of the lack of proper fire breaks between buildings and an almost-universal lack of sprinkler systems downtown,” Morrison said.

Longtime downtown businessman Gene Rees also spoke in favor of the grant program, but in the interest of full disclosure advised that he did not intend to apply.

“The economics of it does make sense — it’s well-thought-out,” the downtown property owner and merchant said of the grant program during the hearing. “It’s important that we have some assistance for property owners to prevent a catastrophic loss.”

Rees referred to a fire that destroyed multiple buildings in Georgetown, South Carolina.

In the mid-1980s, three were lost to a blaze in downtown Mount Airy — leaving a space where the municipal parking lot between Brannock and Hiatt Furniture and Old North State Winery now exists.

While calling the grant program “a great idea,” Commissioner Tom Koch wondered about the impact on another part of the downtown infrastructure.

“If we put a lot of apartments upstairs, where are they going to park?” Koch said of the residents involved. He said they likely will choose spaces along North Main Street to the detriment of businesses, which could do as much harm as good to the downtown area.

Koch said he can’t envision someone lugging bags of groceries up a hill from an off-street parking lot.

Farmer responded that the main focus now is on safety.

“I agree with the fire suppression,” Koch said.

Mount Airy has long been known as the Granite City — but increasingly is becoming Mural City, including one now being painted downtown of native son Andy Griffith.

And it won’t be just one image of the actor who brought fame to his hometown while portraying the sheriff of Mayberry, but the many faces of Griffith which will grace a wall of Surrey Bank and Trust on Moore Avenue.

When complete, the display is to feature Griffith from his early days as a performer, the role on “The Andy Griffith Show” and how he appeared in his later years starring on the “Matlock” television series.

“Instead of one picture, we’re doing five to fill the wall,” artist Brian Lewis of Greensboro— who prefers to be known as “JEKS” — said Tuesday while busily at work on the mural.

JEKS is well-known locally for having previously painted a large mural of late local singer Melva Houston on another wall downtown, in an alleyway beside Thirsty Souls Community Brewing on Market Street. It was completed in 2020.

Not only does the new Andy mural depict him, it highlights another familiar sight.

“Pilot Mountain is superimposed in the background,” JEKS said. “I felt like Pilot Mountain and Andy Griffith are the two real iconic images in this area, and I wanted to include them both.”

The work has required the use of a bucket lift at times.

Local residents and other Andy Griffith fans might recall that a mural to honor him was announced last September — eyed for the south wall of the Brannock and Hiatt Furniture Co. building on North Main Street, facing a public parking lot.

This was a $50,000 project, a cost to be split between the group Mount Airy Downtown Inc. and the local Tourism Development Authority.

However, that location had to be abandoned, Main Street Coordinator Lizzie Morrison of the downtown group advised Tuesday.

“The mural (project) was moved from Main Street after several months of exploring all options for preparation for the larger wall,” Morrison explained. “It was too expensive to ready that wall for paint.” The mural would have occupied a space there nearly 100 feet wide and more than 30 feet high.

This resulted in the new location on the Moore Avenue side of the Surrey Bank and Trust building.

“As with any big project, sometimes we have to pivot from the original plan to make it work,” the Main Street coordinator added.

Those who have seen the mural progress at its alternate location are pleased by what is taking shape, based on social media and other comments.

“They wanted a tribute to Andy,” JEKS said of the project sponsors, “so I just kind of came up with a composite” reflecting the different time frames in Griffith’s life.

Part of JEKS’ inspiration seems rooted in his own longtime appreciation of “The Andy Griffith Show.”

“It used to be on my grandfather’s TV all the time,” the artist said, with that enjoyment further including a pastime frequently enjoyed by the program’s main characters. “We were fishermen, too.”

Work began last week on the mural, and the artist hopes to complete it next week.

Morrison, the Main Street coordinator, indicated Tuesday that due to a smaller wall being involved, the project’s financial scope was lowered proportionately.

“We are using the rest of the $50,000 budget to build a pocket park complete with plaza space and two sitting walls,” she related regarding the change, which offers additional benefits.

“This new location has convenient parking across the street in the municipal lot and allows for people to take photos with the mural without cars impeding the view.”

It also helps accomplish a goal of using public art to get people moving through the downtown district on side streets and parking lots, as opposed to parking and staying on North Main Street, the coordinator believes.

Similar to the one of Melva Houston, the Andy mural is meant to highlight “a real Mount Airy person,” which Morrison says exceeds the Mayberry mystique that draws so many folks to town from near and far.

“The photos used for the design span his career beyond ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’ but I am sure fans of the show will make it a must-see stop on their visits.”

Morrison pointed out that the downtown area now has 20 murals, metal and brick sculptures, painted instruments, barn quilts and a new peace park on Market Street, “all of which honor the spirit of the people of Mount Airy.”

One notable recent addition was a mural of The Easter Brothers gospel bluegrass group in a downtown rest area which was dedicated last year.

“Mount Airy Downtown Inc. is passionate about telling our Mount Airy story through public art,” Morrison emphasized.

Preparations for the next budget year for the county resumed Tuesday night with the county commissioners hearing from the five county rescue squads, Surry Community College and the three public school systems. Each presentation is a chance to look at the year that was, and the plans for each group.

The big news of the evening was that $1.75 million in funds Mount Airy City Schools asked for has been satisfied and can be removed from their budget request.

State Superintendent Catherine Truitt sent an email to Dr. Kim Morrison of Mount Airy City Schools Tuesday with news from Raleigh that will have a lasting impact. She announced that the Needs-Based School Capital Fund in the amount of $1,750,822 to be used for the renovation of the CTE building at Mount Airy High School has been approved.

Compared to some of the other grant requests from this area, the CTE renovations were on the smaller end of the spectrum. Surry County Schools sent in one application for each of the three high schools with those grant amounts reaching nearly $40 million apiece. CTE improvements will include modifications to the building to achieve Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility standards.

In her opening, Morrison asked the board to consider a local business who over the past six years has grown from a $17 million to a $28 million company while attracting 5% of the market share. At the same time this business has brought in outside funding topping $4 million, hired top talent, and been a steady pillar of the community. She said any medium size business that produced such results would be seen as a success, and of course she is describing Mount Airy City Schools.

Morrison offered praise to her staff and teachers for helping students to reach first in the state in Math 1 and Math 3, and fourth in state overall in end of grade testing. The system is double digits above the state average in academic achievement and 100% of Mount Airy City teachers have been growing children where they are expected, or higher, “so to us that means the whole team wins. They’ve done such a great job.”

She went on the call the schools “the hub of the Mount Airy community” that are producing graduates at a high rate. They are working harder now with local business partners and programs such as Surry Yadkin Works to retain graduates here in Surry County. The system has grown its workforce credential program, “at a time when some places would not take interns, we have been able to move forward with 164 credentials last year and over 100 students and internships.”

Even during the pandemic workforce development continues to be a prioritize. The ‘next gen’ program has 38 paid interns, “many of those are going straight into the workforce after they finish their internship. Our CTE interns are around 86, one fourth of those are paid. The apprenticeship part of Surry Yadkin Works is what we were missing from our internships,” and have helped place three students into apprenticeship this year at Northern Regional Hospital.

New programs added recently include entrepreneurship, health science, aviation science, and a construction program she hopes will be moving to a full-time status this year. The system was able to bring in $2 million in outside money this year from 40 local businesses to offset the needs of these new programs.

She touted a dual language program that has doubled its capacity in recent years, which she considers as another workforce development program because over one fourth of every class will graduate fluent in at least two languages. Local industry partners need Spanish speakers, but also with so many partnerships with China, a Chinese language program has become popular. There are students travelling from out of county specifically for these language and workforce programs.

Successes outlined; Morrison walked the commissioner through some of the needs her system has. “I took care of the CTE funding, you can take care of all this.” Her system needs include in part a new used truck for maintenance at the high school, a new truck “as you know is not $20,000.”

A new roof is needed on the concession stand at the football field and the auditorium, as well as a new stage, “We can’t repair the stage if we can’t repair the roof, so we bundled them. We are paying for HVAC replacement, so we need the roof to be able to support it.” Safety and facility upgrades are needed to add door latches for instances of school lockdowns, lighting improvements in gyms, and a purchase of a floor scrubber.

There are still places where carpet removal and replacement are needed, and that may lead to discovery of asbestos. “Abatement, we don’t like to talk about abatement, but as you know we got the state to cover 80% of abatement. There are some rooms we haven’t gone into, and at the state level, when you find asbestos during renovations the state will help with 80% of the cost.”

Blue Bear Café and media center need some cosmetic improvements, and Morrison also added a minibus and van to the budget to get groups to competitions and such. Paving and repair of track surfaces will require half funding as Audra Chilton was able to get these repairs added onto an approved list of ESSER items.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief injected $193 million of pandemic relief funds to public schools and has help to offset some big needs such as paving, HVAC, athletic facility upgrades, and equipment need. This plan will yield the district $700,000 in savings, “We are very thankful those are coming from ESSER money, but those funds are coming to an end.”

Challenges facing the school system include inflationary costs, the exponential growth of retiree benefits, and an increase to the state minimum wage that will translate to $270,000 in additional wages. Morrison also detailed a few of the long-term projects facing the district as well such as repair or replacement of geothermal loops at the high school – which she says has been a recurring repair cost.

A discussion was had about prioritization of future projects with Chairman Bill Goins asking about the priorities list when he saw roof repair listed after a vape monitoring system. Could that be correct, he asked?

“Yes, student safety to us is more important. It is hugely important, (vaping) is our number one offense at the high and middle school.” Commissioner Mark Marion agreed saying his daughter has told him tales of vaping – she is in sixth grade.

“We think we can really cut it down; it is a safety issue and an addiction issue for kids.” She noted Davie County has reported a 50% drop in vaping since instituting a monitoring system, and that they estimate Mount Airy City Schools usage at 30%.

“It is one of the top things in the state that kids are addicted to it, and then they can’t get off it even if they want to if they start in middle school. So, we are trying to keep them from starting.”

Mount Airy has become one of the few localities in North Carolina to receive grant assistance for a summer adventure camp program for local youths which, among other activities, will include a trip to the beach.

This involves a $175,000 21st Century Community Learning Center Summer Mini-Grant awarded to the Reeves Community Foundation from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. The local foundation is a charitable arm of Mount Airy Parks and Recreation and is one of 14 agencies selected for what local officials consider a unique grant opportunity.

The funding will support a summer camp program spearheaded by local recreation officials on the heels of a highly successful session in 2021.

It is open to 60 rising sixth graders to rising ninth graders in the community, for which the grant will be used to promote learning and enrichment opportunities.

The Parks and Recreation Department wants to target this age group, whose members are at an impressionable time in their lives.

“This is definitely their formative years,” Parks and Recreation Director Peter Raymer said Monday regarding a segment of society with which local officials want to build positive relationships for the future.

On behalf of the Reeves Community Center Foundation, the city recreation staff will be operating the camp in partnership with other local agencies.

The foundation will buy all equipment and supplies and contract with Mount Airy Parks and Recreation, Mount Airy City Schools, Surry Health and Nutrition Center, N.C. Cooperative Extension and the Surry Arts Council to provide a well-rounded summer slate.

“This is a free camp for participants, so there is no fee to register,” Raymer said.

Persons interested can stop by the community center and fill out a form. Priority will be given to returning campers and next, students of city campuses. After that, any remaining space will be open to youths at large who fit into the specified grade range.

The role of the summer camp initiative has great significance when considering what the youthful participants might be engaged in otherwise during their leisure time in between school terms, Raymer added.

This doesn’t mean they would be doing bad things, but maybe just sitting at home watching television, playing video games or otherwise captivated by electronic pursuits.

Meanwhile, the camp — to begin on June 13 — will be focused on outdoor recreation activities, fitness and arts involvement, while also being fun.

“There is an education component as well,” Raymer said, with career exploration and North Carolina history included.

One of the program’s goals is keeping students’ minds in a learning mode so they can pick up where they left off when classes resume.

“Every Friday we’ll have Field Trip Friday,” Raymer said, which will involve visits to state parks in the area including Pilot Mountain, Hanging Rock and New River Trail State Park in Virginia.

A highlight of the program will be a trip to the beach on July 25 to cap off the summer camp, with the exact coastal destination yet to be determined.

“We are still trying to make a final decision on that,” Raymer said Monday. “We might try to go to Atlantic Beach once again.”

In 2021, this involved a three-night stay filled with activities including side trips to Fort Macon State Park, the N.C. Aquarium and a barrier island where wild horses roam.

“Last year’s beach trip went very, very smoothly,” Raymer said of an excursion that marked the first time some of the youths had journeyed to the coast — thus creating a lifetime of memories for them.

Mount Airy officials considered that visit extremely valuable, including Commissioner Jon Cawley, who accompanied the group as one of the adult chaperones.

“It changed a number of lives,” Cawley said during a recent city government planning retreat.

“The summer of 2021 was one of the most-impactful summers in the history of Reeves Community Center and Mount Airy Parks and Recreation,” Raymer and Assistant City Manager Darren Lewis (then recreation director) concurred in a statement.

Lewis says a “huge shout-out” is due Raymer for his help in preparing the grant application.

“We are excited about this opportunity.”

They bear different names and eye-catching colors while sharing a common chorus: “We want your vote!” — the campaign signs of candidates for various offices now dotting yards, intersections and seemingly every roadside in Surry County.

Although the political posters are studies in clutter at some locations — ahead of a May 17 primary — a set of regulations governs their display in state rights of way, which the N.C. Department of Transportation is monitoring.

Authorities are empowered to remove any signs that violate an applicable general statute, create safety hazards for travelers or interfere with maintenance operations, the agency has announced.

Department of Transportation employees may take down any signs that are illegally placed within the state right of way, as time permits, officials say. The signs are normally taken to local maintenance offices where they are stored until claimed.

Meanwhile, another set of enforcement eyes is provided by the Mount Airy Police Department.

“That falls under our purview,” Police Chief Dale Watson said of monitoring improperly placed signs.

North Carolina General Statute 136-32 allows political signs, if properly placed, to exist in state rights of way — however, candidates or their supporters must adhere to certain rules and restrictions:

• Whoever places a sign is required to get the permission of any property owner of a residence, business or religious institution fronting the right of way where a sign would be placed;

• No sign can be closer than 3 feet from the edge of the pavement of the road;

• A sign must not obscure motorist visibility at an intersection;

• No sign can be higher than 42 inches above the edge of the pavement;

• Signs are limited in size to six square feet (864 square inches);

• No sign is permitted in the right of way of a limited-access highway such as an interstate;

• A sign can’t obscure or replace another sign.

If anyone else removes or vandalizes a sign, they could be subject to a Class 3 misdemeanor citation from law enforcement.

Signs are permitted during the period beginning on the 30th day before the start date of “one-stop” early voting — which is this Thursday.

Chief Watson said his department did note some violations when the 2022 campaign season first got under way.

Some were put up too early, based on the prescribed allowance date. “And a lot of them were (improperly) in the right of way,” Watson said of the distance rule.

Everyone now seems to be in compliance, after becoming accustomed to the regulations, the police chief indicated.

“They follow the basic guidelines for where and how to put them up and the time parameters.”

The display period for campaign signs officially ends on the 10th day after the primary.

Signs still in the right of way after May 27 will be in violation of state law, and the N.C. Department of Transportation is authorized to remove and dispose of them.

In Surry County there are concerns about the 2020 elections that have been stoked anew and paired with rhetoric so strong it is making national headlines.

Last Monday a group of eight people expressed concerns found during a door-to-door canvass they are doing using voter logs from 2020. They told the county commissioners they were finding and hearing repeated claims of voter fraud and wanted to bring the matter before the board for their attention.

The complaints are summarized as voter registration irregularities, vote totals that do not match expected population counts, voting machine fears, a desire to move back to a paper ballot, as well as an absentee ballot that never arrived. The group also wants what it is calling a forensic audit done of the 2020 election to include a full inspection of all voting equipment.

Reuters news service reported over the weekend that Surry County Republican Party chair Keith Senter, “told elections director Michella Huff that he would ensure she lost her job if she refused his demand to access the county’s vote tabulators, the North Carolina State Board of Elections said in written responses to questions from Reuters,” the news service wrote. “Senter was ‘aggressive, threatening, and hostile,’ in two meetings with Huff, the state elections board said, citing witness accounts.”

“We just had a difference of opinion,” Huff said Monday of those two meetings in March with Senter about his concerns and desire to look inside voting machines. “That’s just not how it works in North Carolina.”

She gave Senter and Dr. Douglas Franks paths for recourse if they found errors in the canvass, and that her office would investigate immediately any voter challenge forms. She also advised them that any claims of fraud would need to be addressed by the state board of elections.

Senter said he was told by Huff’s office that an audit had been done, but he countered only a recount had been done. If there were wrong data, counting the same data sets again would yield no difference.

“If you line up ten apples, and five of them are wood, you still have ten apples, but five of them are false. It’s the same with votes, you can count votes over and over, and get the same result. What if five of them are fraudulent?”

Mark Payne, a lawyer hired by Surry County, presented the following to the Board of Elections on April 20, “To date, the only specific request/demand presented is a demand for a ‘forensic audit.’ It should be noted here that there is no legal definition of a ‘forensic audit’ and because of the colloquial use of this term on a national level, at this time the request is vague.”

There is a common thread of mistrust in voting machines that pervade arguments of election fraud. An elected county official said they were told a microchip or modem inside was rumored to have been a culprit for election results. “There was a problem with the internet connections, that’s what I’ve heard Mike Lindell say,” canvasser Suzanne Richards said. Lindell is the CEO of My Pillow Inc., and also a well-known conservative activitist who has insisted President Trump did not lose the 2020 presidential election.

“Voting machines and systems used in North Carolina are secure and have been certified to federal and state standards. They may not, under state law, be connected to the internet, and do not contain modems despite rampant misinformation otherwise,” Huff said in response.

“No election system or voting system in North Carolina has ever been the target of a successful cyberattack. Every piece of voting equipment is tested before every election, and the results are audited afterwards. Bipartisan teams participate in every step of the process, and the public can observe pre-election testing and post-election audits. We are happy to provide additional information on these topics if parties wish,” she wrote Thursday.

There has been a request to access the voting machine by the canvassers, to which Payne offers, “Under NC elections law, it is neither lawful nor appropriate to allow anyone other than authorized elections staff to have physical access to the machines.”

He said the law prohibits it and allowing such access would void the warranty on the machines, which would lead to decertification of some, or all, of the county’s voting machines. “This will expose the commissioners and the taxpayers to significant financial loss to purchase new voting machines or recertifying current machines.”

Kevin Shinault pointed to what he referred to as “statistical improbabilities, and statistical impossibilities.” He said in Surry County that, “everybody over the age of 80 is registered to vote, that’s a statistical impossibility if you know math.”

Huff replied, “We would ask where the information about voters over age 80 and the methodology used in this claim. Claims like this often arise from comparing registered voters of a certain age with the voting age population in a county as reported by the US Census Bureau for a different period of time. Comparing these data is not statistically or mathematically sound.”

John Bose summarized it this way, “I know the heat is on, but I make a plea for you to have courage. We do not have faith in the elections process.” He, with other speakers, offered stories of veterans, freedom, and sacrifice to set a tone before dispensing serious claims of voter fraud.

“When we got there for training they started with a video, and it was nothing but graves of men who had died for someone like me,” Shannon Senter said. She mentioned the sacrifice of her own ancestors which gave her the right to speak to the board.

“They sacrificed, and I don’t ever want to forget that. That’s what gives me freedom. I thought about my grandbaby and what I’ll say to him when he is living in tyranny 20 years from now and don’t have the freedoms that I have.”

“What I would like to address is the door-to-door canvassing that is currently occurring,” Huff went on. “We, the Board of Elections, and staff want to remind voters that we would never go door-to-door seeking information from voters about any election business. These people are not election officials. We would ask any voter to ask the canvasser to verify their identity and their organization.”

The canvassers told the board that they had data driven stops and were not simply going door to door. Furthermore, they said the occasional citizen may have offered up who they voted for in 2020, but that was not asked nor was it their mission to find that out.

“Most people have thanked us and said this is long overdue,” Paula Stanley explained of her canvassing experience.

Gayle Norman echoed that, “I went down a different route, but the end result was the same. We have older people who are saying the voted in person when our logs show a mail-in/absentee ballot.”

“To date, we have not received any evidence or specifics regarding this second-hand account, so we have no way to verify it or respond,” said Huff.

A specific complaint from a travelling nurse who requested twice and never received her absentee ballot while out of state did get Huff’s attention. “My vote was taken away, I’m mad,” Ms. Bose told the commissioners. A United States Air Force veteran, she said she tracked her absentee ballot request online and when she saw her first ballot never arrived, requested another – which also did not arrive.

To have not been able to cast a vote is understandably upsetting, especially to a veteran of the armed services. “We are concerned if she requested a ballot, was eligible, and didn’t receive one. To our knowledge, no one has reached out to the county board of elections about this issue,” Huff said.

Huff went on, “My number one goal and focus is the current election we are actively working on each day and night. I want to ensure all voters of Surry County that security of election equipment is a high priority for this office and any claim regarding the validity of our equipment is taken seriously.

“I do not want voters of Surry County to walk out of a precinct without casting their ballot after they have checked in and received a ballot due to misinformation about the voting tabulators. If any voter would like to call our office concerning any process in casting their ballot, I encourage them to call our office.”

In previous budget years the Surry County Sheriff’s Office has prioritized hiring, but Chief Deputy Paul Barker told the commissioners this year that one of the main focuses for the upcoming budget was going to be on equipment needs and vehicles.

One problem area for Sheriff Steve Hiatt and his team is one that is also a sore spot for other law enforcement agencies across the state: patrol cars. Finding them, securing them, and getting them delivered in a timely manner is an ongoing problem. The county is five patrol cars short from the current budget year already.

In the next budget year, which begins July 1, the Sheriff’s Office is looking for a total of 13 new vehicles: one for animal control, one for the Narcotics Division, one SWAT van, and ten pursuit rated patrol cars. These ten additional patrol cars are in addition to the five patrol cars that were budgeted and approved for this budget year, but never arrived to join Hiatt’s fleet.

With five still outstanding, next year’s order of ten is in addition to those that have not arrived. Rhonda Nix of the county’s finance office said one or two of those cars may yet arrive. The county is securing budget room next year for an additional ten proactively.

Cars that are budgeted for but do not arrive do not go against their budget, the county does not pay for items not delivered. Those funds are not the sheriff’s to do with as he sees fit however and cannot be spent freely because the cars did not arrive.

“We’re seeing what you’re seeing on a daily basis when you’re going to stores and trying to buy things. We’re seeing that in the law enforcement realm, we are trying to order law enforcement equipment, and it doesn’t matter what it is, the extensive delays times are astronomical,” Barker told the board.

Nix said the Sheriff’s Association was also having trouble acquiring new vehicles. The Chief Deputy added, “I will tell you this, when State Highway Patrol goes to order 2,400 cars, you know as well as I do who is going to get the preference. You got Winston-Salem might order 200 at a time, so of course that’s an additional thing we fight against.”

Buying a new car or truck these days can be a big of a hassle, even for Jane Q. Citizen. “You can’t even buy a pickup truck,” Commissioner Mark Marion observed. This is why so many county vehicles find second and third lives. The SWAT van that is being requested in the new budget replaces a late 1990s vehicle that Emergency Services surplused out.

Supply chain problems are keeping the patrol vehicles that the county wants from arriving, and expectations have already been adapted. “It has been a real struggle; we even changed the wording to “pursuit rated vehicles.” I can’t ask for Charger or Durango, it’s basically whatever we get.”

The county uses a lease program that Nix said, “if not for the supply chain issues, this is a good idea.” She said a three-year leasing plan is good because: it keeps the miles down, rotation of the vehicles is safer for deputies, there is less down time waiting for repairs on older cars, and the vehicles hold more equity upon trade in.

A need for speed is what comes to mind when thinking about an officer in hot pursuit. While it is true that police pursuit vehicles are meant to be faster than those they are chasing, they also have better shocks, brakes, suspension, and acceleration than a stock vehicle found on a car lot. “You can definitely tell the difference when you drive it,” Sheriff Steve Hiatt added.

All deputies are required to be in pursuit rated vehicles, the board was assured. There are members of the Sheriff’s Office not in pursuit rated cars, but they have jobs that ought not find them in a high-speed chase racing down US 52 at over 125 mph.

Commissioner Van Tucker asked, “What’s the difference between a car going 140 or say 124 mph? In the time we’re waiting for a Charger, can’t be buy something else?” In short, there are other cars besides those listed that qualify including the Ford Interceptor and the Chevy Tahoe, the latter was said to have been far too expensive for consideration.

“We’re not just talking about chases; we are talking about emergency traffic. Which if you’re in Mount Airy and you get a call for a domestic violence, that office is going to run emergency traffic, 10-18, to Lowgap. We need to give the deputies equipment that is adequate to do the job.

“As your chief deputy, if it were my sister in a domestic situation, if I was the resident, I would want the officer in the most capable vehicle possible. We’re not talking about Maserati or stuff like that. We want them to have the equipment adequate to do the job.”

Getting the car does not mean the problems are over, they are just getting cars marked up and on the road that were asked for two years ago. Also, “We have a van that we are ready to put on the road for detention. We have it, it’s leased, it’s striped up, but I’m missing the cage.” The protective cage that separates driver from passengers is a critical element, “it’s been on order for eight months.”

Having a car that can get there fast is great, the new budget wants to make sure when deputies arrive on scene, they can document the incident. The desire is, “To create a safe space for the officer, and can help keep the county away from legal issues,” Barker said.

“One video can make all the difference in the world,” he said when it comes to protecting deputies, the department, and the county from potential lawsuits. With camera footage the “he said — she said” element of the interaction can be eliminated.

Having that equipment standard, and in working order, will ultimately make the difference. There are six on-board cameras that have reached the end of the line, the board was advised. Another local department was changing their cameras and sent an email out announcing they had extra parts. “We scooped them up and did some in-house repairs to keep those cameras operational.”

Replacing those cameras that have aged out will once again provide an extra layer of security for the officer, the citizen, and the county. Chief Deputy Barker told the commissioners there is “a need and also the want to have in-car cameras operational in all patrol cars.”

Overlooked and taken for granted, it surrounds us in our daily lives. Often viewed as a messy and potentially stinky or costly necessity, it keeps us healthy and promotes cleanliness — plumbing!

Indoor plumbing in the United States is a relatively new innovation. Here in Mount Airy, it took many years and set-backs to give us the water quantity and quality we have today.

Water is a finite resource; the fresh water on Earth today is the same water the dinosaurs drank millions of years ago. The water cycle recycles the fresh water across and above the surface of the Earth; it evaporates, condensates, and precipitates.

Water is also one of the few substances that can exist in the three states of matter; solid as ice, liquid as water, and gas as water vapor. Earth is 75% water and of that percentage only about 3% of it is potable. Aquifers are a water bearing layer of rock sandwiched between other rock layers that are watertight and under pressure. When a well is dug, it taps into an aquifer and the unequal pressure forces the water to the surface. There are six artesian wells in the Lambsburg, Virginia, area. Springs on the other hand are naturally occurring instances of water rising to the surface and one such local spring is White Sulphur Springs.

Before the implementation of plumbing, early settlers would gather water from wells, ponds, or streams to use for cooking, cleaning, and bathing. Often, people would get sick from stagnant water due to the buildup of bacteria.

When nature called, the closest tree or quickly dug hole did the trick. Later, outhouses were developed. Always located downwind from the house and away from water sources, the outhouse gave shelter, privacy, and cleanliness for people to do their business. To wipe, people would use corn cobs, lambs ear, or the trusty pages out of an old magazine before rolls of toilet paper as we know it were invented.

The extent of indoor plumbing at this point was a chamber pot, which had to be emptied every day. It took many years for all homes in the United States to get indoor plumbing, and many homes in rural areas were still using outhouses well into the late 1900s.

A dependable supply system for water in Mount Airy took years to establish; a city sitting atop granite made for a challenge. In 1903, the city purchased water from a deep well owned by the Rucker-Witt Tobacco Company. Soon it was discovered it could not sufficiently supply water to the city and in 1904 construction began on a town well. This well could not meet the needs of the community as well, so a watershed (a land area that channels water from rain and snow to moving bodies of water such as creeks, streams, and rivers that eventually makes it to outflow points like reservoirs, bays, and the ocean) located on Creasey’s Branch, was chosen.

A dam was built at the location and a pipe line was laid to carry the water to a holding tank in town. This worked until 1910 and a new dam location, at Tumbling Rock Branch, was chosen to supply water. In 1913, the first water filter plant was built. Due to substantial drought during the 1920s, the city decided to tap water from Lovills Creek to add to the water supply, since it was the best source of water.

The City of Mount Airy operates two surface water treatment facilities. Operation at S.L Spencer Water Treatment Plant began in the late 1920s and is located along Lovills Creek. Operation at Doggett Water Plant began in 1970 and is located along Stewarts Creek, the largest water source for Mount Airy. There are 200 miles of water lines and 150 miles of sewer lines in the city.

When you walk down the street, take a walk along the Greenway, cook, do laundry, or go to the restroom, consider the pipes running beneath and how they bring fresh, local, clean water to you.

Justyn Kissam is originally from Winston-Salem and now lives in Mount Airy. She works at the Surry Arts Council.

An annual tradition is back — perhaps bigger and better than ever before.

Thursday, the Mount Airy News held its Readers Choice Award luncheon at Cross Creek Country Club, recognizing local businesses and professionals who were chosen as among the best in their respective fields by Mount Airy News readers.

More than 100 people gathered for the awards lunch to recognize dozens of area businesses chosen by Mount Airy News readers as their favorite enterprises in the Greater Mount Airy and Surry County area.

“When you say you have won a Mountie, you have really won something,” Regional Publisher Sandy Hurley said to those in attendance. The Mounties, as the awards are called, go to the individuals or businesses voted among the top at what they do. Hurley told the gathering more than 20,000 votes were cast in this year’s tally.

Representatives of many of the award winners, as well as the primary sponsors of the event — Carport Central, Cibirix, Northern Regional Hospital, J’s HVAC Unlimited LLC, West Ridge Insurance, Carolina Roofing, and Dr. John Gravitte, DDS —were on hand not only to receive their awards, but to comment on what their business does, and what the awards meant to them.

Of course, being the first Mounties awards ceremony in two years because of the coronavirus pandemic, was on the minds of many who spoke.

“Not too long ago, we gathered like this and we had no idea we would hear the word ‘COVID’…we’d hear the word ‘pivot,’ that we’d hear the word “remote,’” Hurley told the crowd of business owners and managers. But, she said, those phrases and principles have dominated the business world over the past two years. However, many area businesses were able to pivot, where able to adapt, and last week’s gathering was a celebration of that.

Chris Lumsden, CEO of Northern Regional Hospital, spoke of how the concept of togetherness kept hospital staff focused on the task at hand, even when the facility was setting record highs for the number of patients, while staffers were many times out with COVID-19.

“When times got tough, the team really stuck together,” he said of the hospital’s 1,000 caregivers.

Whether fighting through a pandemic, or in more normal times, the hospital official said one thing he believes is critical to the success of any business is investing in its people. He said over the past year, the hospital has invested $275.000 in its employees and other members of the community, helping them to afford training and certification in various medical fields.

“That is very important,” he said. “With the labor shortage, it is important to grow our workforce.”

Jeffrey Trenter of Carport Central and Cibirix, said he believes his companies received so many reader votes because his company has a guiding philosophy: “We just try to do the right thing.”

That has led his business to significant growth, to the point that it does far more than carports, with many commercial and residential projects. With Cibirix, he said the marketing firm can help businesses grow their online presence.

Sandra Matthews of West Ridge Insurance in Pilot Mountain said being recognized at the Mounties was a thrill.

“We are honored,” she said. “We are just honored to be recognized.”

Nathan Gough, of J’s HVAC Unlimited of Mount Airy, said one of the hallmarks of his company is that they are “Committed to doing what’s right,” and that running a successful business is about more than just generating revenue.

Amanda Fretwell, with Dr. John L. Gravitte, DDS, PA, said Dr. Gravitte has been serving the Mount Airy community for 18 years, with his annual free dental clinic, along with working with the schools. Being able to “give back’ is something that is important to him and his staff.

For a full list of winners, see the special Best of the Best section inside today’s Mount Airy News.

Celebration was afoot and the television cameras were set up Friday in Dobson for the unveiling of the Hungry for History road marker denoting this as the official home of the sonker. The tasty pie-cobbler hybrid that could has been making the most of available fruits and, for some, the sweet potato going back to colonial times.

Now a historical marker adorns the grounds of the Historic Courthouse in Dobson from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation that carries with it the weight of having been verified by professional historians. They call theirs the gold standard of historical markers, so some proof was needed to the sonker heritage claim.

A heaping of thanks needs to be given to Abbi Freeman for her dedication to the project. Craig Distl with the Surry County Tourism office, called her an unsung hero of the process who “really sunk her teeth into the Sonker Trail.” She conducted interviews, did research, and provided the documentation to get the grant from the Pomeroy Foundation.

A member of Mount Airy High Class of 2017, and a student at Appalachian State. Freeman is majoring in English secondary education, with a minor in recreation management. Student teaching awaits her in the fall.

“Abbi also helped grow the trail, she pounded the pavement and brought on board The Tilted Ladder and Prudence McCabe Confections. She made a difference, and her impact carries over to Friday’s dedication,” Distl said.

Jenny Smith from the Mount Airy visitors center explained, “We were excited to have Abbi work as an intern specifically with the tourism partnership of Surry County and the Sonker Trail. During her internship she added partners on to the trail, also did the grant work for this historical marker. We are thrilled to have received the grant and are excited to be part of this event and the unveiling of the marker.”

Freeman smiled on Friday as some of the spotlight landed on her unexpectedly. Of her work in growing the Sonker Trail she said, “It does a wonder for local businesses, and you know we love small business.”

This sort of recognition for food may seem odd, Lisa Turney of Horne Creek Farm noted that when she began her career as a museum profession, “food and food culture did not receive the recognition they get today. They make up an important part of who we are, how we connect, what we value, and how we express ourselves.”

“A catalyst and an anchor for our memories, food has the ability to snap us back in time to remember some of life’s sweetest and most cherished memories.” She asked the crowd about associating the smell of fresh baked pie with mom and grandma.

She was also sure everyone had an experience with making a homemade dish for a loved one who is ill, or a neighbor who has experienced a loss in their family. “It’s a southern tradition, a means of connecting, showing love, and of expressing compassion.”

Food is a connector that can bring people together because no matter where you go, when you make a homemade recipe, doing so says a lot about you she, added and quoted James Beard, “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”

Horne Creek Farm hosts Christmas by Lamplight and they serve sonker, She said when giving a brief talk in 2019 on the origin of the dish she drew a strong objection. “Immediately a man raised his hand and said rather emphatically, ‘I think you’re wrong on that, it originated in Yadkin County.’”

“You know something is pretty special when two counties lay claim to it. I didn’t think quickly enough, but upon reflection the fact remains that Yadkin County was split from parts of Surry County. So, I think we can say with great certainty the sonker originated in Surry County.”

President of the Surry County Historical Society Dr. Annette Ayers called it, “an original farm to table food for the rural population since they had access to all the ingredients on their own land.” She added sonker is found in a Martha Washington cookbook that credited the recipe to her Scotch-Irish cook. From Virginia, the English and Scotch-Irish settled this area and brought with them customs and recipes among which sonker is believed to have followed.

The Society has sponsored the Sonker Festival at Edwards – Franklin house for 40 years before a two-year absence due to the lingering pandemic. On Oct. 1, the tradition will resume with the 41st Sonker Festival. A return to doing what they love will be a proper anniversary gift to mark the group’s 50th anniversary year.

County Commissioner Eddie Harris mentioned keeping the traditions of the past alive via sonker. “We’re proud today to honor all our ancestors that continued the tradition from Scotland, Ireland, England to bring this dish to our county. We are proud to continue this tradition. Surry County loves it history, and we want to honor our history today.”

The marker is a fitting honor that now is among the more than 1,700 other road markers and plaques the Pomeroy Foundation has sponsored. Their letter to Surry County said the sonker now finds itself “among a select group from across the United States.”

For the second time in as many weeks, Mount Airy officials have popped the cork on a debate surrounding potential alcohol availability in a public rest area downtown — but with no clear consensus emerging.

When the city council met Thursday night, Commissioner Jon Cawley sought to have it rescind an ordinance change made on April 7 allowing more downtown businesses to operate outside dining areas, coupled with the possible serving of wine and beer.

The board broadened wording to include food and beverage establishments along with restaurants, which was earlier the case.

Cawley, who voted “no” in that 4-1 decision, has since charged that this opens the door for alcohol use in Jack A. Loftis Plaza downtown. It is a rest area containing bathrooms, tables and chairs — overseen by a mural of the Easter Brothers gospel bluegrass group.

He said other board members either didn’t realize the full implications of their decision paving the way for this, or else were aware and wanted to sneak the rules change through in a manner that avoided transparency.

Others on the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners — and Mayor Ron Niland — took issue with Cawley’s assessment Thursday night, when the end result was to continue discussion on the matter to its next meeting in early May.

“I resent the insinuations that we as board members don’t do our homework on what we vote for,” Commissioner Steve Yokeley said in response to public comments by Cawley since the previous session.

The board’s Marie Wood offered similar statements.

“I did my research on this ordinance,” Wood said of the change in language approved two weeks earlier, “and I feel good about my vote.”

She said the addition of food and beverage establishments to the mix will allow 10 more businesses to utilize the downtown outdoor dining provision that originated in 2015.

Wood also questioned Cawley’s attempt to rescind the April 7 action, saying she could recall someone on the board once complaining that if certain commissioners didn’t like a decision they could bring it up again until they got their way.

“Jon, that was you,” Wood said.

Word “plaza” a sticking point

Cawley explained Thursday night that the reason for requesting the recension then was because of his understanding that rules require such actions to occur in the next meeting after a vote. He added that this route should be taken rather than waiting to see the impacts of the outside dining/alcohol measure.

The North Ward commissioner, who is running for mayor against Niland, said Thursday night that other city officials seemed to know the intent of the April 7 vote. That was to set the stage for a wine shop and boutique next door to Jack A. Loftis Plaza, known as Uncorked, to serve alcoholic beverages in a portion of the rest area, according to Cawley.

“One of my questions is, why didn’t I (know)?”

In apparently countering comments by Commissioner Wood, Cawley also said he had seen campaign signs supporting transparency in city government — implying this sentiment was not playing out in reality.

The mayor responded that all city government decisions are openly made in council chambers of the Municipal Building, and he is not aware of any occurring elsewhere.

Cawley, meanwhile, sought to illuminate his position on the changed ordinance, focusing on concern about “plazas” being included among outside service areas along with sidewalks in front of establishments and alleyways.

“I have no issue whatsoever with the ordinance except for the word plaza,” Cawley said, due to its implications for the public rest area.

As the debate wore on, Commissioner Tom Koch offered what appeared to be a compromise.

He suggested banning alcohol in Jack A. Loftis Plaza, including erecting signage saying violators will be subject to a $500 fine.

This would allow food and beverage establishments to do business while not “taking advantage of city property,” Koch reasoned.

However, Commissioner Joe Zalescik questioned the need for such signage, pointing out that it already is illegal for someone to walk down North Main Street carrying an open container of beer. That applies to other public spaces such as the downtown rest area, Zalescik said.

Yokeley also cited wording in the amended ordinance stating that city property may not be encroached upon, which he said would pertain to Jack A. Loftis Plaza.

“So I don’t see it as an issue,” he said of Cawley’s call for rescinding the previous decision out of concerns that space would accommodate a beer and wine garden.

Yokeley said he didn’t believe Uncorked would be able to do what Cawley suspects, cutting a hole into its wall adjoining the plaza for a serving window. Instead, the business is planning to add a back deck, based on the discussion.

While city Planning Director Andy Goodall had indicated at the April 7 meeting that such a building modification would permit adult beverage use in the Loftis plaza, this was clarified Thursday night. It would require the granting of an easement by the city, according to Goodall.

Procedural questions about how to address the matter seemed to permeate the meeting, from which City Attorney Hugh Campbell was absent and unavailable for legal guidance.

For example, it was mentioned that Koch’s suggestion to ban alcohol from the rest area might require a public hearing before it could be implemented. This led Cawley to ask why a hearing wasn’t needed before the April 7 action.

Thursday night’s discussion ended with the mayor deciding that the matter should be addressed at the next meeting, allowing it to be fully explored.

“Since this is a change in a public space,” Niland said of the possible regulation, “it needs to at least be put on an agenda for discussion.”

He added, “I’m going to rule this a moot discussion at this point.”

DOBSON — After court challenges and delays that resulted in a March primary date being shifted to May 17, in-person early voting for that election finally will begin Thursday at four locations across Surry County.

• A Mount Airy site at the Surry County Government Center on State Street behind Arby’s;

• The Surry Board of Elections headquarters at 915 E. Atkins St. in Dobson;

• In Pilot Mountain at the town rescue squad building at 615 E. U.S. 52-Bypass in the former Howell Funeral Home location;

• The Elkin Rescue Squad building on North Bridge Street.

Early voting hours at all four locations will be 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, with the service to end on May 14, the Saturday before the actual primary day.

No Sunday hours are included on the schedule.

Republican and Democratic candidates for various local, state and federal offices are on the ballot — predominantly GOP office-seekers — along with those for four positions in the non-partisan Mount Airy municipal election which are on tap for city voters.

Unaffiliated voters in North Carolina can choose whatever party ballot they wish for primary election participation.

Surry County Director of Elections Michella Huff reminded Friday that the upcoming one-stop early voting/same-day registration process — along with allowing registered voters to get a head start — provides a break for others who missed Friday’s regular registration deadline.

They can register during the early voting period at one of the four Surry locations and immediately cast a ballot at that same site. However, those who did not register by Friday’s deadline will not be allowed to vote on the primary day itself.

Same-day registrants must prove their residency by displaying either a North Carolina driver’s license, a photo ID issued by a government agency, a copy of a current utility bill or a current college photo ID card along with proof of campus habitation.

The procedure includes a set of safeguards, according to Huff.

“Within two days of the individual registering, we will verify the registrant’s license or Social Security number, update the voter registration database, search for duplicate registrations and begin to verify the registrant’s address by mail,” the elections director explained.

Huff added that 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election on Nov. 8 are eligible to register and vote in the primary.

The elections official also wanted to remind local residents Friday that a paper ballot form will be involved this year, as was the case for the last voting cycle.

Voters will place their completed ballots into a tabulator. Once inserted, they have successfully cast their ballots as part of a process designed to be efficient, reliable and safe.

“Security of election equipment is a high priority for this office and any claim regarding the validity of our equipment is taken seriously,” Huff advised.

“To that note, our machines were certified for use on a federal and state level and are safe to cast their ballot in again this election year.”

Meanwhile, the absentee ballot by mail process is continuing in Surry.

No excuse is required for voting using that method, but all absentee requests must be submitted on an official state form — available on the Surry County Board of Elections website or by calling its office. Elections personnel cannot accept handwritten informal requests.

Would-be voters can mail signed completed official request forms to the office or hand-deliver them there.

May 10 is the last day for residents to request that an absentee ballot be mailed to them.

“Our office looks forward to offering all ways to vote, either absentee by mail or in person at one-stop (sites) or on Election Day, May 17,” Huff mentioned.

For the second year in a row, Mount Airy City Schools has been awarded the 21st Century Community Learning Center Summer Mini-Grant. This year’s competitive grant totals $154,000 and is federally funded through the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

This has helped the city school system to provide free kindergarten through eighth grade after-school programming as well as free summer enrichment experiences to students in the community over the past five years. These summer sessions include free transportation, free meals, and high-energy activities that keep students engaged with school four days a week for seven hours.

These funds will directly support the district’s efforts to improve the literacy skills of students through its STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) framework. Plans have been made to continue the partnerships formed during last summer’s popular Blue Bear Bus program. The bus will travel across four community sites this summer on a Monday through Thursday schedule showcasing a weekly agenda of literacy infused STEAM activities. Weeks of operation and themes for the summer are:

• Week of June 13 – Ready, Set, Grow!

• Week of June 20 – STEAM into Summer!

• Week of June 27- RED, WHITE and BLUE!

• Week of July 11- Ocean Week

• Week of July 18 – Fun Fitness

• Week of July 25- Reach for the Stars!

This project will provide access and opportunities for students to get excited about reading rich literature that shows them mirrors (seeing themselves in stories), windows (seeing into others’ worlds and gaining an understanding of the multicultural world), and sliding glass doors (allowing readers to walk into a story) paired with hands-on STEAM activities.

“We are excited to serve our families again through the innovative use of our Blue Bear Bus team of educators and support staff,” said Project Director Penny Willard. “They will facilitate learning with our students and families this summer with the goal of keeping rigorous summer learning alive. Our team is currently planning around a diverse array of weekly themes to inspire our students with creative learning that develops them as lifelong readers, creators, designers, problem solvers, and innovators.”

Every child visiting the bus will walk away with new books to develop their own home library where families can support the love of reading. Research has shown that reading aloud to children may serve as the single most important activity to build knowledge to support a child’s ability to read (Reading Rockets, 2022). This project will also help allow Mount Airy City Schools to deepen its partnership with Reeves Community Center. Reeves works to provide swimming lessons for students of all ages and abilities.

Students and families will also have the opportunity to engage in field trips with the bus team. Educators are excited to take learning on the road and into the real world by visiting Kaleideum North, the Greensboro Science Center, and Dan Nicholas Park.

Families are invited to join the district for these experiences and to strengthen the school-to-family partnerships that enrich the educational opportunities for students. The district realizes the importance of family involvement and knows the impact of dedicated summer investment on a child’s success.

The rental business of a local commercial laundry service has been acquired by Alsco Uniforms, a large company with a national and international presence based in Salt Lake City.

Professional Rental Service (PRS) is located at 220 Frederick St. in Mount Airy, long owned by local businessman Gene Rees. It specializes in uniform rentals along with supplying items such as linens, mats, towels and mops and operating a new and used clothing store.

The business is listed as having been established in 2001 and before the acquisition by Alsco, employed 40-plus people, Rees said Thursday.

Unlike other takeovers of smaller operations by larger entities, he believes there was no net job loss among that force.

“They hired all our route associates, our delivery team,” Rees said of Alsco.

“We wanted to do it when we could protect our employees,” the local businessman said regarding any potential layoffs resulting from the sale which could have been offset by the strong labor market existing now.

“There were some who just retired,” Rees said in explaining the end result of no actual losses.

Age was a factor in the move, involving both Rees and folks in top positions at Professional Rental Service in their 70s.

“The biggest reason, I was born in 1951,” he said. “(It was) in recognition of my age.”

Rees said now seemed to be the time to sell in order to ensure a smooth transition, rather than waiting for an illness among key management, for example, which might have undermined that.

He had indicated in mid-March that the rental business was being sold, coming on the heels of him being approached from outside about acquiring the operation.

“An option to sell a company is always out there in this industry,” Rees said of the uniform-rental sector, adding that he talked with other larger companies that were potential buyers before deciding on Alsco. “We felt their culture matched our culture.”

Rees said the transaction included the business accounts of Professional Rental Service, but not its building on Frederick Street or equipment. “Not one piece.”

That structure is being provided rent-free to Alsco for three months to help with the transition, along with a management team for the same period.

After being finalized, the acquisition recently was announced by James Gutheim and Associates, a firm in Encino, California, which served as the financial adviser for the transaction.

Terms of the sale have not been disclosed.

Alsco (which stands for American Linen Supply Co.) is a private, family owned operation that has been in business since 1889.

It employs more than 20,000 people in locations worldwide, according to online sources.

Alsco’s core function includes providing linen- and uniform-rental services to customers that include restaurants, health-care organizations, automotive industries and other industrial facilities.

It continues to be managed, owned and operated by members of the original founder and owner’s (George A. Steiner) family, Kevin and Robert Steiner.

Alsco is considered a trailblazer in the laundering and delivery of ready-to-wear uniforms.

It should have been a fun February Friday morning at North Surry High as the night before the Lady Greyhounds basketball team defeated Southwestern Randolph 59-49 in their second-round playoff game to advance to the next round.

However, staff members who were first on campus the next morning caught a whiff of something right away that was amiss. A fuel leak in the boiler room had sent hundreds of gallons of fuel oil right down the drain. A drain that runs under the parking lot and empties out on the banks above the practice football field near Stewarts Creek.

Had the staffs’ noses not worked, the Doggett Water Plant was also an early canary sounding the alarm as they were detecting higher levels of fluorocarbons in the water than should have been there.

In recounting the incident on Monday, Surry County Schools Superintendent Dr. Travis Reeves said it had been their goal to get word as soon as it was clear there was no danger. Parents were scared upon hearing emergency crews were at the school, and then heard of a chemical or fuel spill. He expressed empathy for the anxiety the situation may have caused parents.

On that Thursday evening in February it rained the better part of an inch, and it was this rain that exacerbated the problem. “Had we not had that rain, I do not think the oil would have reached Stewarts Creek,” he told the county commissioners Monday. He mentioned being thankful the spill did not happen over the weekend when it may have gone unnoticed.

The day before the leak there had been a problem at North Surry where four boilers fed by a 20,000-gallon fuel tank heat the school. A hose connects the boiler system to a 100-gallon reservoir tank in the boiler room itself, and a drain is in the floor for any spillage.

Reeves described the system as designed “to make sure that when the boilers shut down that the fuel doesn’t go back into the big tank and make sure we have constant pressure, otherwise we have air in the lines and we’d be sending folks over there all the time to refire the boiler.”

“We had a pump malfunction the day prior, so we added a temporary pump and a temporary hose, and the temporary hose got a hole overnight. We are not sure why a hole came in the hose overnight; but it did.”

In the end though, it is human nature to look for the root cause of this spill. Something happened somewhere along the line, “Was it a substandard replacement part? A substandard repair?” Commissioner Van Tucker asked.

With a pressure rating of 225 pounds of pressure, Reeves was baffled as to how the hose could have failed since “there was really no pressure on the hose itself,” he said Monday.

A sample of the tubing in question was presented to the county commissioners for visual inspection, with Tucker adding, “I notice it says made in China and reinforced. It wasn’t reinforced nearly enough Dr. Reeves.” The insurance company has dispatched a forensics investigator to assess the tube, pipe, and hose for just such a defect as Tucker may have been alluding.

The commissioner went one step further by asking Reeves if he felt there was any chance that this had not been an accident, but rather an act of vandalism. Reeves answered in the negative, Tucker though seemed to have some lingering questions about the situation and was keen to allow an investigation to continue.

Reeves said Thursday morning that the investigators had questions about the “down pressure” on the six-inch replacement hose “that was right off the truck. We keep a length of it on the truck, so it was new, and it has a life expectancy of 8-12 months.”

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the maximum insurance payout is $50,000 which would pay for only part of the response and cleanup bill presented by Ultimate Towing & Recovery of more than $233,000.

Surry County has submitted their own invoice to the school system for $4,079 for their Haz Mat response to the fuel spill.

Dr. Reeves came to the board armed with a plan to reallocate money already appropriated to completed projects that wound up coming in under budget.

“This is not your fault, not our fault, but we need to pay it.” Tucker suggested the board approve Dr. Reeves’ reallocation of $34,000 to be put immediately toward the outstanding cleanup total, “without appropriating any more money to this problem until we have time for… the investigation to run its course.”

Commissioner Eddie Harris was clear, “This business needs to get paid.” The commissioners agreed to reallocate the money Reeves asked for but then hold off for up to 30 days any further disbursement from the board until the insurance company has completed its work.

Harris went on to remind the board of a similar fuel spill caused by a leak in the boiler room at Elkin High that spilled into the Big Elkin Creek. Elkin has since converted to natural gas, ironically a process that is soon to get underway at North Surry High.

Frontier Natural Gas has been extending its service area, “We are going to connect on to the line that Franklin is already on.” Reeves also said Surry Central has made its transition to natural gas with East Surry still to have its conversion to natural gas.

That’s too little too late for Reeves and the commissioners as they stare down a quarter million-dollar expense no one saw coming. The bottom line for the fuel cleanup, environmental impact, and labor for Ultimate Recovery’s employees totals $233,575.

Dirt that was tainted with fuel oil had to be transported to Asheboro to be cleansed at a cost of $15,342. Usage of dump trucks to haul that dirt for 388 hours cost $45,784. When factoring in backhoes, skid steers and the rest of the equipment that number doubles.

To hire a geologist to be on site for reporting and sampling during the process cost $7,500. Approximately $45,000 was spent on labor for the contracted cleanup crew.

Reeves explained another large line item, “They call them pigs, but they are the round white objects that go across the top of the water on the creeks. We had several of those between the high school and the water plant.”

288 booms were used to float atop water at a cost of $256 a piece making this the single largest line item from the cleanup at $73,728.

Mount Airy is hoping once again to tap into federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for what one city official calls “much-needed infrastructure” work involving municipal water and wastewater operations.

This locality previously was designated to receive $3.2 million — in 2021 — from the American Rescue Plan Act as part of a $350 billion financial aid package approved for all states and localities as a COVID-19 relief measure.

Plans recently were announced to use the bulk of that money for major building and equipment needs at various city facilities, with 16 local non-profit groups also vying for a share of the $3.2 million.

Apart from that round of funding is another pool of American Rescue Plan Act money to aid local water and sewer systems such as those in Mount Airy.

This includes $77.6 million allocated for planning projects and $54.1 million for construction grants that can be used for construction of water and sewer rehabilitation projects — with Mount Airy eyeing both.

“These potential funds are totally separate from the ARPA funds previously granted to the city of Mount Airy,” Public Works Director Mitch Williams advised in a city government memo regarding the initial $3.2 million allocation.

Five resolutions were approved unanimously by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners on April 7 which will be part of the application process for ARPA funding. And the board was expected to approve another Thursday night related to the city wastewater-treatment plant located off U.S. 52-South.

Williams said during a planning retreat in late March that much work is needed at that facility, which was constructed in 1966 and upgraded in 1991 in increase its capacity.

In conjunction with the ARPA grant-application process, a list of projected capital expenditure requests was prepared involving the wastewater-treatment plan. Needs exceeding $1.1 million are included for just the next, 2022-23, fiscal year that begins on July 1.

The largest item noted is $1 million for replacing an influent pump station. For the next 10 years, projects are listed with a total price tag of $9.2 million.

Two other construction grants are being sought by Mount Airy, for water system improvement and sewer system improvement projects. “If awarded, these grants will go toward construction of existing rehabilitation projects,” the public works director advised.

The city recently hired two engineering firms to assist in applying for both the American Rescue Plan Act planning and construction grants.

Those related to the planning element include water and sewer condition assessments and a preliminary engineering report for wastewater-treatment plant upgrades.

The deadline for submitting the grants for ARPA assistance is May 2, with funding possibly approved either this summer or fall.

“Hopefully, the ARPA (and other) applications will be successful and some much-needed infrastructure work in the distribution system, water plant and wastewater plant will be completed in the near future,” states the text of a PowerPoint presentation Williams made during the retreat.

An annual tradition is back.

Thursday, the Mount Airy News held its Readers Choice Award luncheon at Cross Creek Country Club, recognizing local businesses and professionals who were chosen as among the best in their field by Mount Airy News readers.

We’ll have a complete rundown of the winners, along with a special section honoring them, along with plenty more photos, in Sunday’s edition of the paper. Until then, here’s a glimpse at some of the festivities.

Nearly a year after finding the body of a Mount Airy man who died from an apparent drug overdose, authorities have arrested a Pilot Mountain man and charged him with second degree murder in the case.

Surry County Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt said Justin Neil Sydenstricker, 33, of 190 Eastridge Place, Pilot Mountain, was arrested and charged in the case. At the time of his arrest, Sydenstricker was already in custody in the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center on an unrelated murder charge.

The sheriff said that on May 2, 2021, his office received a call “in reference to an unattended death.” When patrol deputies arrived on the scene at 300 Snody Road, Mount Airy, they found the body of 29-year-old Adam Casey Marshall. The sheriff said he died of “an apparent overdose.”

Detectives with the sheriff’s office have been investigating the death ever since, culminating in what the sheriff said was an indictment, then arrest, on a second degree murder charge against Sydenstricker

“This incident is still an active investigation, but during the investigation detectives identified Mr. Sydenstricker as the individual who supplied the narcotics to Mr. Marshall that contributed to his death,” Hiatt said in a written statement regarding the arrest. “Mr. Sydenstricker was served the indictment as he was already being held in Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center for a murder charge out of Winston-Salem.

Because this is still an active case, Hiatt said no other information would be released at this time.

There were a lot of smiles on display Thursday at East Surry High School as the Special Olympics returned to the field. The pandemic caused the same havoc to these games as it has in so many other events of note over the past two years. That was of no matter as the parade of athletes hit the track to some rather raucous cheering for so early in the morning.

Like the Olympic Games, the Special Olympics had opening ceremonies with presentation of the colors form East Surry JROTC, speeches from Surry County Schools Superintendent Dr. Travis Reeves and Chairman of the Surry County Board of Commissioners Bill Goins, and the oath of the athletes. Each school was announced and entered the football field as a group. There was a group for individual competitors as well as not every athlete is of school age.

When the torch entered the stadium flanked by Sheriff Steve Hiatt and a large contingent from the Surry County Sheriff’s Office the excitement grew. The flame lit, the oaths offered, it was game time.

Game time is not a wholly inappropriate way to describe the variety for the athletes. Games from soft ball toss, wheelchair races, and race walking were happening on the field and track simultaneously.

Daniel White is the local organizer, and a member of Surry parks and recreation staff, who emceed the morning as well as handling dance contests between cheerleaders and the PTA. He announced the dance off was a two-way tie.

Some of the youngest competitors were across the field near the visitors seating area where there was a spirited tug of war going on, while another young man did his best Evander Holyfield impression while bopping and boxing with an inflatable penguin.

Whatever the activity, location, or age group there was a contagious joy to the event that was not sullied by cloudy skies. There was “the thrill of victory,” what was missing from these games was “the agony of defeat.” It has no place amongst these Olympians who were winners already, but some took home additional hardware at days end, nonetheless.

Commissioner Mark Marion pointed out that people may not often think of all age groups participating in Special Olympics, but he said they were all kids at heart on this day. That was easy to see when adults, teachers, the superintendent, and county big wigs were tapping their toes to Earth, Wind, and Fire’s September, or struggling with the cupid shuffle – they got an A for the effort.

Marion included himself among the kids at heart and echoed the exact words of his colleague Commissioner Larry Johnson, that this was one of the best days of the year, something he looks forward to. He has his own personal connections to the Games as he has a family member in competition and Johnson Granite is one of the many corporate sponsors.

The sponsors and the volunteers were an army, with East Surry High students in red t-shirts identifying themselves as ‘buddies.’ Kassi Hiatt, a red shirted buddy herself, explained the buddies were paired with an athlete to travel through the day with them. They were given encouragement during the opening ceremony to help their athlete have fun and make great memories.

Students from inside East Surry were coming out to cheer on the athletes as well, one teacher mentioned his class finished what they needed to do, so he was bringing them down to cheer on the Olympians. “I’m on my sixth trip already,” he said as he hurried behind his students.

Bill Goins spent a long time in public education, and he told the crowd that in his days in school administration the visits to see his exceptional students would often be a bright spot in his day. “I spent 28 years in education and 17 in administration. The highlight of my day often was to go see my exceptional students. I knew I could get a smile or a hug if I was having a bad day,” he told the crowd.

It was not necessary to have a family member competing to feel the sense of happiness and joy that permeated David H. Diamont Stadium. Special was a word used a lot Thursday, but it did not lose its luster or prove to be anything but true – the games and the athletes were indeed special, and winners all.

Frontier Natural Gas is picking up where it left off two years ago by recently launching a project to extend its lines in the Toast area.

The expansion path is heading up South Franklin Road to the N.C. 89 (West Pine Street) intersection, then will proceed in both directions along that route.

“It is going from there to North Surry High School,” company spokeswoman Taylor Younger said of the area to be covered by the expansion on N.C. 89-West.

New lines will be installed toward the east to the U.S. 52 bridge that crosses N.C. 89, added Younger, who is in the engineering division of the natural gas supplier headquartered in Elkin.

The distance is to cover a total of about four miles of new lines, but Younger did not know the potential number of businesses, residences and other entities that will be able to tap on to them as a result.

Construction crews have been vigorously at work in recent days along South Franklin Road north of the spot where a 2020 line expansion was halted near Franklin Elementary School.

That project was done primarily to meet energy needs of Faith Baptist Church, which had burned in 2018 and led to a rebuilding effort.

Additional natural gas expansion by Frontier occurred then in the Pineview area to the south behind the Dollar Tree store on U.S. 601. This provided the opportunity for commercial and residential properties in the densely populated area to access service via the new infrastructure.

The main motivation for the extension most recently undertaken by Frontier Natural Gas is to serve North Surry High School, where a leak of fuel oil — the school’s present heating source — occurred in February.

“They are a fairly big user,” Younger said of the school’s energy consumption, calling North Surry “the anchor” for the line-expansion project.

“We will be saving them money,” she said of the switch to natural gas.

The project will increase the footprint of Frontier Natural Gas in Surry County, where it already has about 135 miles of main lines serving around 1,400 customers.

Another Frontier official has said that in the first year after a line project in Surry, the hookup rate ranges from about 20 to 25 percent in the territory involved and gradually builds to around 35 percent.

Frontier also serves residential, commercial, and municipal customers in Yadkin, Wilkes, Watauga, Ashe, and Warren counties, with some manufacturers said to prefer that energy source.

This was reflected by a move in 2014 to supply natural gas to Westwood Industrial Park in Mount Airy through a partnership with the city and county governments.

At a time when there is a push toward green energy sources and away from fossil fuels, natural gas remains a viable alternative, Younger said.

“In the industry, people consider natural gas sort of a bridge to green energy.”

The Jack A. Loftis Plaza was so named 11 years ago this month to honor a former Mount Airy mayor who’d been instrumental in developing a rest area there which provided the first public bathroom facilities downtown.

Over the years, the spot on the lower end of North Main Street has been visited frequently by Mayberry tourists and locals alike, also containing tables and chairs covered by awnings where they can enjoy food while escaping the sun.

One recent enhancement there involved the dedication in 2021 of a mural depicting the popular Easter Brothers gospel bluegrass group that hailed from this area, whose three principals are now deceased as is Loftis.

But a member of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners is concerned that another addition would detract from the vibe of the plaza, an adult beverage consumption area he says is possible under action taken earlier this month.

The board voted 4-1 on April 7 in favor of an ordinance change that was touted as a way to allow more downtown businesses to operate outdoor dining sections, which has been sought in response to the pandemic.

However, existing rules required those places to be restaurants in order to take advantage of a concept first approved in 2015 — so on April 7 the council majority broadened that to include “food and beverage establishments.”

Now Commissioner Jon Cawley is bothered that this change somehow could allow a wine shop and boutique on the north side of Jack A. Loftis Plaza — known as Uncorked — to serve alcoholic beverages in at least a portion of the rest area.

Cawley, the lone council member to vote against the ordinance amendment, also was the only one to direct pointed questions toward city Planning Director Andy Goodall over its implications of allowing more spaces for alcohol consumption by businesses downtown.

In exchanges with Cawley, Uncorked was actually cited as an example by Goodall during the April 7 meeting concerning establishments that might be affected.

Outdoor serving areas can exist in specially designated spaces adjoining such businesses — including sidewalks, plazas and public alleys — with at least 5 feet of space required for an “unobstructed pedestrian corridor,” under city ordinances.

“And as long as they do that they can use that plaza,” Cawley said of Uncorked’s potential to expand to the rest area.

Outside serving sections can include tables and chairs, but those areas can’t exceed 25% of the total seating capacity of the mother establishment.

Based on the April 7 discussion, Uncorked would not be able to use the plaza as its building is presently configured, but could through upfits of the structure as a result of the ordinance change.

Cawley’s understanding is that this could include modifying the intervening wall to add a serving window facing the plaza, where the Easter Brothers mural graces the opposite wall.

Measurements reportedly have been seen taking place at the site to do just that, according to the councilman.

Yauna Martin, an owner of Uncorked, said Tuesday afternoon that the business presently has no plans for such a facility.

“Right now I just think we’re not going to do anything,” she advised. “And we’ll see what the future holds.”

Cawley is of the opinion that the April 7 action occurred without the full knowledge of either the commissioners supporting it or the public at large.

“I don’t believe there was a board member there who understood the ramifications,” he said. “I think the decision was made without factoring in everybody’s good-sense opinions.”

On the other hand, “it may have all four of them understood completely if it was going to become a wine and beer garden,” said Cawley, who expressed general concern at the meeting about permitting more spaces for alcohol consumption.

Despite what fellow council members knew or didn’t know, he is troubled by the rapid manner in which the vote played out and a possible lack of transparency.

“I asked some questions and I was the only one that did,” the North Ward commissioner — a candidate for mayor in a May 17 primary — added regarding the April 7 debate on the matter that was handled relatively expediently.

“When the goal is a 5-0 vote in a 30-minute meeting, you’re not going to get a lot of discussion.”

The Mount Airy Board of Commissioners is holding its next meeting Thursday night, when Cawley hopes to rectify the situation.

“I’m going to ask the other commissioners to rescind the vote,” he explained.

Aside from any other concerns about the issue, Cawley thinks that if alcohol consumption does transpire in Jack A. Loftis Plaza, a facility intended for the general public, it will detract from Mount Airy’s small-town Mayberry image.

“Mayberry doesn’t need wine and beer,” he said of that mystique.

The Pilot Mountain Civic Club named Carolyn Boyles as the 2021 Citizen of The Year. At a recent meeting, Mayor Evan Cockerham presented her with this award stating she is “integral to this club, this community and the very history of Pilot Mountain.”

She is no stranger to the community as she is a lifelong resident and taught in the Surry County School System for more than 40 years; serving at Shoals Elementary and Pilot Mountain Middle schools before her retirement in 2011. She was honored with the Teacher of The Year award at both schools during her tenure. She received her bachelor’s degree from High Point University and her Masters and Education Specialist degrees from Appalachian State University. She was included in the first edition (as well as two additional editions) of “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” and was featured in “Great Women of the 21st Century.”She is well-respected and admired by her former students as she is frequently recognized by them when they see her. She always takes time to reconnect and ask about their families and current activities.

As a leader and pillar of our community, she served as a commissioner in Pilot Mountain town for 23 years and as Mayor Pro-Tem for a number of years. In addition, she served on multiple town boards including the planning board and the TDA.

She is a lifetime member of the First Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School, served as a deacon, church clerk, and member of the Women’s Missionary Union. Many families especially appreciate the care she provided as a teacher in the nursery on Sundays. She also served on multiple committees to further the development of the church ministry.

She can be seen at every Red Cross blood drive, thanking the donors and serving refreshments.

She is an avid genealogist having researched and published a book titled “Early Days of Pilot Mountain, N. C. – A History and Genealogy.” Not surprising, with her love of history and genealogy, she is a member of the National Education Association, North Carolina Association of Educators, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution: Jonathan Hunt Chapter, Surry County Genealogy Association, Genealogy Society of Rockingham and Stokes Counties and the Mount Airy Regional Museum of History where she serves as a docent.

She enjoys reading, playing bridge, participating in exercise and yoga classes at the Armfield Civic and Recreation Center, and is a former golfer. She is a world-wide traveler having visited more than 100 countries. She is an adventurous cook who enjoys trying new recipes and sharing with friends and family. She even prepared apple strudel with the head chef during a Rhine River cruise to Germany.

Her spirit of public service is unwavering. She exemplifies the ideals of a citizen by volunteering her time for worthy community or civic causes to improve the quality of life for those in our community. She is a role model who inspires other club members to invest their time and talents in service-oriented activities. When community needs are identified, she is the first to step up and assist in any way possible as evidenced by Mayfest planning committee, the Surry Community College scholarship program, and many unexpected emergent needs in our community.

“As an elected official, Carolyn is someone I look up to and admire,” Mayor Cockerham said. “As a young leader in the community, I am grateful for her support and know her counsel and wisdom are available. When I think of well-rounded individuals, I think of Carolyn, when I think of people who have had a lasting impact, I think of Carolyn. When I think of people who made this community what it is today, Carolyn is in a class of her own.”

© 2018 The Mount Airy News