Leadership in a small, rural county is critical for the continued progress of the community. When current or potential leaders are shouted down or harassed by a small but vocal group of special interests, justice dictates that others of good conscience step forward.

We have watched for more than a year now as a tight-knit group of individuals under the direction of former county attorney Thomas Harrington of Eden has come to dominate the public discourse in Rockingham County. Will of the People, a committee, sprang from the Tea Party movement in 2009 to oppose the scheduled revaluation in the county. After successfully turning back the revaluation, the group set its sights on current county commissioners up for reelection at the May primary.

The foremost issues motivating Will of the People are opposition to the Horse Park of the South and the replacement of all county commissioners who are in favor of the project. To that end we have watched as members of Will of the People booed and hissed at commissioners during public meetings and created an atmosphere of disrespect toward county leaders.

This attitude culminated on May 4 during the primary when we watched with unease as members of Will of the People vocally harassed and physically intimidated at least two candidates, their supporters and members of their family at multiple polling places.

Will of the People has created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that may suppress voter turnout in future elections. They have accomplished this through boisterous tactics without offering solutions to the problems our community faces.

When will they realize it is better to work with the groups they oppose and come to a peaceful solution instead of creating such negativity in the community?

Will of the People is adamant about not bringing new ideas to the county but they have failed to present alternatives. When are they going to be specific beyond “cut, cut, cut?”

We need people to come together and examine the actions of Will of the People and hold them accountable for undermining the spirit of civic discourse in Rockingham County.

During tough times we need the cream to rise to the top, not a narrow band of self-serving people who represent a few special interests. Rockingham County needs to become a vibrant, egalitarian community in order to attract the business and industry needed to improve the quality of life here.

Will of the People does not represent our will.

Perry G. Graves Sr.

Jeffrey Sykes

Reidsville, NC

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The Will of the People committee met on Thursday evening at the Whitcomb Center, Rockingham Community College. Again, there were over one hundred members and guests present. The Will of the People committee is a non partisan group of concerned Rockingham County citizens who have joined together to insure truth and honesty from our elected officials. This committee of hundreds of members serve the citizens of the County by attending county commissioner meetings, their budget meetings and trying their best to hold taxes down to an acceptable level in the county. All county citizens are urged to join us.

The meeting on June 3rd was special because it marked the 18th month anniversary of the committee. There were many topics discussed such as the continued expenditures for the Horse Park of the South, Inc. While this group has appeared before the county commissioners numerous times to protest the $27 million dollar project, the commissioners have continued to spend another $200,000. The committee has provided proof from experts such as Mrs. Truitt , Executive Director of that Equine Center and the Director of the Governor Hunt center in Raleigh that this is not the time for taxpayers to be held accountable for building and maintaining such a center.

Another item discussed was the primaries held in May. This group worked at the polls in order to remove the commissioners up for re election. The reason for this is obvious to most people. The county commissioners do not listen or pay any attention to the opinions of the people. In fact at the May meeting, the audience was met with threats to be escorted out by Chairman Bass. This committee has never been rowdy or disrespectful at any meeting. Therefore, it is time for new candidates who are more cooperative to be elected. This is a phenomena being played out all over America. It is time for elected officials to heed and vote what the will of the people everywhere demand. November, 2010 has been called the most important election in history. The incumbents who are in office must be closely scrutinized and their former actions deliberated carefully. This also must be done with the candidates running for election. If the candidates do not strongly and sincerely pledge allegiance to the principals of the citizens, they can not win this election.

On the willofthepeoplerock.com website the committee invited all candidates running for office to attend the meeting. The candidates present were Guerrant Tredway, Keith “Zero” Mabe, Bert Jones and Bernie Reeves. Since Mr. Reeves traveled from Raleigh he was allowed to address the group. The other candidates have been recognized and asked to speak in the past. As November draws nearer, the committee will be open to hearing from other candidates.

A group of concerned citizens from Patrick County, VA contacted the committee and asked for guidance in setting up their grass roots organization. This group is the Patrick County Tax Payers Watchdog Group. They sent six representatives to attend the Will of the People meeting and they stayed after the meeting to meet with the chairman and other members to ask questions. They were received by the group with a hearty welcome and offers to assist them in any way possible. The Will of the People committee is receiving interest and attention from Raleigh and Virginia groups on a regular basis. The committee has gained enormous respect for their dedication to the citizens of Rockingham County and their best interest.

The committee is planning a get together for all members and a group has been assigned to set this date and event. Members and guests will receive notification of date, place and time.

Thomas S. Harrington, Chairman, was recognized and presented a plaque by the members for his leadership and constant guidance to insure all people of Rockingham County’s best interest are kept in the forefront of the county government.

Submitted by: Dot Bush – Eden, NC

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There has recently been a lot written and said about the higher cost estimate for the proposed horse park, its funding and its overall benefit to the county and the region. I would like to clarify the county’s position on this project, its funding and expected benefits.

First, the primary reason the County and City of Reidsville are looking at this project is to stimulate the area economy and to produce jobs. NC A&T State University, our other partner, sees a strong education and job training opportunity with the Park. Our Park consultant’s feasibility study projects a $15 million direct annual benefit. We also looked at a recent University of Virginia Economic Benefit Analysis of the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Virginia. The study shows that this center has helped to create over 800 jobs and helps generate over $41 million dollars annually in direct economic benefit to the area economy (www.co.rockingham.nc.us/cooperstudy2004.pdf). Recently, the North Carolina General Assembly studied the equine industry in North Carolina and documented that it is a $1.9 billion industry with the potential to more than triple in value. This study goes on to say that a mega horse park should be built in the state to help capture this benefit (http://www.ncruralcenter.org/pubs/equinestudy050809.pdf).

Recently, Ms. Katherine Truitt, Executive Director of the Virginia Horse Center, came and spoke to the Board of Commissioners about her center’s operations and economic benefit. She cautioned the Board about proceeding with development. We are in the process of researching and evaluating her points.

In 2004, our consultant estimated the cost to build the center at $10 million. Rockingham County has sought funding to build a regional horse park with an arena and 400 stalls but has only been able to secure $6.8 million. At that point, we hired an architect and engineer to evaluate our 160 acre site to get a better estimate of the cost to build a reduced scale facility consisting of a covered ring and 400 horse stalls. We also sought leaders and business people in the region to advise us on the overall feasibility and benefit of the project. The consensus was that the horse park project was an “economic game changer”, not only for the county but the Triad region at large. This group also felt strongly that the main arena must be built if the project is to produce significant economic impact.

The architect and engineer came back with a much higher cost to build a reduced scale facility due to having to complete full site design and development in Phase I. The estimated cost to build the main arena pushed the cost, excluding land, to $22.3 million. The County does not have funding to build this much higher cost facility. Some local business leaders who were consulted about the project’s feasibility and benefit indicated that they felt that this was such a strong regional project that private funding could be secured to complete the project with the main arena included.

The Board of Commissioners believes that the horse park can be a very important economic development project for the county and region, but private funds will have to be secured if the project is to be built. I have asked representatives of Horse Park of the South, Incorporated to explore the possibility of a private fundraising campaign and report back to the Board as soon as possible. The Board’s intent is not to raise property taxes to help build or operate this facility. We simply are not in a financial situation to do so. Revenues from the hotel tax and from increased sales taxes and property development around the Park will be set aside as reserves for the operation and maintenance of the facility. Additionally, it has been the County’s and the City of Reidsville’s position, since making the decision to buy the 160 acre site at the corner of Barnes Street and US 29, that the site would be used for industrial development if the horse park did not work out. The City and County secured a $1 million grant from the state to help buy the site and have completed much of the engineering work needed to determine grading costs, storm water management, environmental assessment and mitigation, water and sewer needs and traffic routing for the park or for two large industrial tracts.

Harold Bass, Chairman

Rockingham County Board of Commissioners

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 Column Concerning Shelter Features

Bobby R. Stanley, County Commissioner

Chairman, County Animal Shelter Committee

            The commissioners decided on the 16^th to build a complete shelter including an adoption area and spay/neuter clinic.  These are the reasons why. 

            At first glance, it appears that the county can’t afford to build a complete shelter.  In fact, the county can’t afford not to.

Animal shelters carry a higher cost per square foot than other facilities, largely due to stringent state and federal requirements designed to reduce the spread of disease and noise pollution.  Among these are separate air ventilation units for different shelter areas; required cement walls for easier cleaning; a special pump required to handle high volumes of animal waste; high pressure cleaning system, and; specialized drainage system in shelter kennels.

Although not a state requirement, including a spay/neuter clinic in the new shelter is crucial to controlling animal overpopulation.  Consider the number of offspring a single cat can produce during her lifetime.  With an average of fifteen litters of five kittens each, one cat produces 75 offspring, each of whom, if not neutered, will in turn produce 75 kittens.

            It doesn’t take long to do the math.  Currently in Rockingham County, stray dogs and cats number in the thousands, and if adoption and spay/neuter facilities are not included in the new shelter, the animal overpopulation epidemic will only get worse.  More stray animals means:

• more animal control officers to collect them,
• more shelter staff to take care of them,
• more food and medicine for them,
• more animals euthanized, and
• higher cost for overall animal sheltering. 

That is why, even if you don’t care about the 5000 animals per year that would not be euthanized, including spay/neuter and adoption areas in the new shelter simply makes good economic sense.  Although the initial cost is greater, a full service shelter actually saves money over time.  Within five years of construction, operational costs level out as fewer and fewer animals occupy the shelter. 

            The increase in stray animals also increases the spread of disease.  In 2009, the county saw 11 confirmed cases of rabies alone including a cat that bit a four year old girl.  In that case, several puppies at that location had to be put down due to their exposure to the disease.  Without the additional shelter features, the incidence of rabies and other diseases will only continue to grow.  

Another issue that will be improved by a larger shelter is pet retrieval.  Often people don’t realize that many of the animals who occupy the shelter are someone’s beloved pet.  With the current overcrowding, animals are only housed three days before being put down.  This time frame does not provide enough time for pet owners to collect the animal before it is put down.  A new, larger shelter will allow staff to house more animals longer, allowing owners to find and collect them.  In addition, it will be easier to locate a lost pet as more animals are sent to the new facility. 

These are only a few of the reasons that building a complete shelter with an adoption area and spay neuter clinic is, in fact, the economically smart thing to do. 

Dear Editor:

The Rockingham County Board of Commissioners asked to meet with the Will of the People Committee. A special meeting was set for January 28 and a written invitation dated January 7 was mailed to the Commissioners giving notice of the meeting. Over 100 members of Will of the People came to the meeting specifically to question the Commissioners, but none of the Commissioners came. We were not told until the morning of the meeting that no Commissioners would attend – too late to cancel the meeting.

Even more important is the fact that every inference of Mr. Bass’s letter that the Commissioners actually seek and want to have communication with the people of Rockingham County is false. They, in fact, have done everything in their power to avoid any such meeting and any such communication. The Commissioners meet twice a month and, supposedly, citizens can make “comments” at the second meeting of each month which is held at 6:30PM. We have attempted to impress upon them that most people in Rockingham County cannot attend a 6:30 meeting without missing dinner. In a show of arrogance and disregard Commissioner Bass and his Board moved the public comment time to the last of the agenda from its usual place near the beginning of each meeting. Now, if you want to make a public comment you must first rush to get to the meeting to sign up before 6:30, sit through a long meeting and, at long last, you can make a comment restricted to 3 minutes. Insofar as we know, that’s the end of that. You cannot ask questions. If, as Mr. Bass contends, the Commissioners really “are very sensitive to the desires of the citizens to have greater opportunities to speak with and hear from their elected representatives”, they certainly have a strange way of showing it.

We do not believe for one minute that the “special town hall style meetings” referred to by Mr. Bass has any purpose other than to divert our people into totally meaningless and worthless meetings. Under the present circumstances we have no interest in having a meeting with two or three department heads explaining the workings of their departments with possibly one Commissioner present. We want to talk to and hear from the Commissioners on the way they are spending money, what they are doing about one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, that they are aware that hundreds of our citizens suffer foreclosures each year and why they increase taxing and spending during one of the worst periods this county has ever suffered. We want to hear about county debt, the huge spending, why the Board will not allow the people to vote on the expenditures, why they can’t answer a question without the help of the County Manager, and we want to hear it from the members of the Board themselves.

It is interesting and inexplicable why not a single one of the Commissioners has ever mentioned their failure to attend our meeting. Like the TV commercial for that cleaning service whose motto is: “Like it never even happened”, it did happen and it is not going to be forgotten. We had over 100 members attend in the hope of at last being able to ask a Commissioner a question. Rather than firing off a long letter to every news outlet in the area, it might have been wiser for the Commissioners to apologize for their rudeness.

Our experience with the Board convinces us that they have neither a desire nor an intention of meeting with and responding to the public. Any claim or inference to the contrary is false.

Very truly yours,

Thomas S. Harrington, Chairman

Will of the People

708 Washington St.

Eden, NC 27288

336.623.8436

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The Rockingham County Board of Commissioners was recently invited to a meeting of the Will of the People Committee for a meeting to be held on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at the Community College. The Commissioners had previously expressed openness to a meeting; however, the particular date was not agreed to in advance. When the invitation came, Thomas Harrington, Chairman of Will of the People, was contacted to express the Commissioners intention to attend the meeting as a group but to ask for another date because the 28th represented a conflict. This was approximately two weeks prior to the meeting. Mr. Harrington indicated that notices had already been sent to committee members and that it would not be appropriate to waste the expense of sending the notices by canceling that meeting. Mr. Harrington did continue to extend the invitation to one or two of the Commissioners if that were the only number who could attend. However, the Board’s view is that such meetings should be open to the public and that all Commissioners should have the opportunity to attend and emphasize that this particular date was a conflict and had not been agreed to in advance.

The Commissioners are very sensitive to the desires of the citizens to have greater opportunities to speak with and hear from their elected representatives. These are stressful times, and citizens are rightfully concerned about what public services are being provided and how public resources are being utilized. At regular County Commissioner meetings there is often a long list of items which must be attended to on behalf of the citizens and those who come to speak often feel “squeezed in” among a number of items.

In order to address the concern for more opportunity for citizens to interact, the Commissioners have renewed efforts to have special town hall style meetings set aside for the purpose of hearing from and sharing with citizens. One such meeting has already been held concerning the proposed Equestrian Center effort. Additional meetings are being planned to rotate throughout the County.

Everyday the County’s citizens struggle with growing hardships and the Commissioners as elected representatives of the people face difficult challenges in meeting the needs of the community in public safety, human services, education and in fostering economic opportunity and jobs in Rockingham County. All of the Commissioners know we need to pull together as a community in these hard times and encourage our citizens to come to our meetings and work with us as we listen to often divergent views and strive to do the best job we can for all the citizens of our county.

Respectfully yours,

Harold A. Bass, Chairman

Rockingham County Board of Commissioner

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Some weeks ago, the Chairman of the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners told Mr. Harrington that the board wanted to meet with the Will of the People.  A special meeting was called for that purpose and by letter dated January 4, Mr Harrington invited all the commissioners to the meeting.  Chairs had been specially located for them at the front of the meeting room.  Some time during the morning of the day of the meeting, Mr. Harrington was notified that none of the commissioners would attend.  Notice was received too late for the meeting to be cancelled or the members to be notified.  The group had hoped to get answers to their questions which the commissioners had consistently refused to give at commissioner meetings.  They were clearly disappointed.  

There was much discussion and concern expressed about spending by the County commissioners and the cost of projects they are considering.  Everybody agreed that spending on any project that is not absolutely necessary should be postponed and that the commissioners and county manager must be fiscally responsible in their decisions regarding county expenses.   Underlying the various concerns discussed was the fact that the elected officials of Rockingham County absolutely refused to meet or communicate in any way with a large group of citizens who have tried over and over to communicate with them and received no response.  It is generally felt that the arrogance and irresponsibility of the county commissioners is greatly similar to the arrogance and irresponsibility by both our state and federal governments.  The people of Rockingham County should not tolerate such arrogance.  

The “Will of the People – A Committee” is a non-partisan group that is growing leaps and bounds in numbers daily.  If you are interested in the group, please call Thomas Harrington at 336.627.8436, Ron Janney at 336.623.8120, Eugene Fuqua at 336.342.1710, Guerrant Tredway at 336.573.2993, Bev Wilcox at 336.634.0308 or Jim and Dot Bush at 336.627.3408   Jim Bush <bush.jt@gmail.com>

(This entry was sent to us by Dot Bush February 2nd, 2010, for posting)

What a beautiful county this is. We hunted for a new home for nearly 2 months in the Summer of 2009. Since we import and train Police Dogs we needed a special place.

We have found it in Rockingham County. A beautiful Log Home with a $40,000 Barn that was just perfect to house our K9 friends. Of course we called Rockingham County Zoning Ordinance to see if we were restricted on owning dogs and we also looked up Animal Control laws.

Well, after speaking to them we were good to go. We closed on this home in June of 2009 but did not take possession until July 11Th. On July 7Th we visited the property to take some pictures for our relatives. The previous owner gave us some mail that already arrived in our name. To our surprise Rockingham County already send us a letter stating that we were in violation of County ordinance by running an illegal business. We were shocked since we did not even move in. We called and they said that they had a complaint about a kennel. We told them that we do not even live there they did not know what to say. GO FIGURE!

On 01/11/2009 we received a call from Rockingham County stating that they will change the County Ordinance and they Emailed me the proposal.

This proposal states if you own 10 or more animals (DOGS OR CATS) housed or kept as pets, personal enjoyment, breeding, grooming, handling, training, sport, hunting or filed and obedience trials you are considered a Commercial Kennel.

If you own 6 or more you are considered a private Kennel.

The bad part is the restrictions.

They want a site plan: Lot dimensions of everything even where you dog uses the bathroom. They want you to be 150 feet from the property line, 300 feet from from a preexisting residential structure, a noise screen such as a masonry wall that has to be 8 feet tall, 8 foot fence around your kennels, a water sewage disposal system, landscaping standards, all pens must be screened from view of all adjacent property by fence or vegetation.

This is a 6 page ordinance that will take all your rights away to own domesticated animals.

The (Rockingham County Planning) board will meet next Tuesday January, 19Th at 7:00pm. It will be at the Governmental Center.

I am pleading with all animal lovers, dog owners, hunters, breeders to show up.

God Bless!

Birgit Hall

www.policedogs.us

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Houston, we’ve got a problem!!!

Reidville City Council Vs. Greenway Trails

The Issue:

Annie Penn Memorial Hopital (now part of Cone Hospitals) has a foundation now called Reidsville Area Foundation, it set up a 10 yr program to help fund Greenway Trails in and around Reidsville. The Reidsville City Council has decided that they would rather use the funds for a sidewalk along Cypress Drive. I live in the area in question and I could see “curbing and guttering” as being more useful than a sidewalk. We need people to put their 2 cents worth in and push to continue supporting the need for the 2.9 mile Greenway Trail to Lake Reidsville. Once built, like Greensboro and other cities, trails for different uses could be built around the lake, adding several more miles of multi use recreation.

Here is the article as published in the Greensboro News and Record, please read:

http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/01/08/article/reidsville_council_rethinking_park_greenway

Here is how the city originally presented the funding support and it’s intentions from the Reidsville Area Foundaion:

http://www.ci.reidsville.nc.us/GreenwaysGrant.htm

Please respond to the Greensboro New and Record: http://www.news-record.com/

Reidsville Review: http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/rockingham_news/

And especially to the key people below:

Mayor of Reidsville, Mr. Ferterman: mayor@ci.reidsville.nc.us

Mayro Pro-tem, Tom Balsley: cardsfan@triad.rr.com

Reidsville City Manager Kelly Almond: kalmond@ci.reidsville.nc.us

Assistant City Manager, Mr. Stamey: tstamey@ci.reidsville.nc.us

Parks and Recreation Director, Harry Brown: hbrown@ci.reidsville.nc.us

Reidsville Area Foundation: rafoundation@bellsouth.net

Below is my response:

Sorry to disagree, however “Greenways” are a big draw for small communities as well as large cities to build and expand upon. Look at Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Raleigh-Cary, Durham, Boone, etc…. Annie Penn Community Trust should hold true to this investment in our community and extend the greenway trail 2.9 miles to Lake Reidsville. I then invision the next phase would be to create a trail around our city lake, adding several more miles, as Greensboro did with the help of volunteer clubs and organizations. The present greenways are definitely getting good use. Greenways are a great way to teach inviromental education, community recreation and engagement, promote good conservation practices and stewardship. I daily see families, schools, scout groups using the greenways not only to better their physical health with fitness, but also as an outdoor classroom. Pass by the parking areas for our Greenway and the ones in and around Greensboro. They are being used daily to their fullest potential. Citizens are strolling their kids, walking, jogging, biking (by the way you aren’t suppose to bike on sidewalks) and expanding their experience in the great outdoors! Here is an example of a volunteer organization at work, which could be replicated here in Reidsville. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is promoting, “A Trail To Every Classroom” based a booke by Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, 2005. Here is the link to an overview: http://www.nps.gov/appa/forteachers/index.htm  There are many multi-use trails in North Carolina that are built and maintained by volunteers. Trails like the Appalachian Trail (2,175 miles), Mountains to the Sea Trail (almost 1,000 miles), Dan River Trail, Uwharrie National Forest Trail, Yadkin River Trail, these are just a small example of the many trails in our state. Sidewalks are fine for downtown, however the funds offered by Annie Penn should be put to its intended use and get our citizens a little futher away from the hustling roadways. I challenge everyone to take a stroll on our Greenway Trails, even though they are paved, you will go home with a better appreciation of what natural areas our community has to share.

I have not problem with the city “curbing and guttering” Cypress Drive. However, living in that neighborhood, the money spent on a sidewalk could be put to a much better use completing the trail as the Reidsville Area Foundaing (formally known as Annie Penn Community Trust) so intended. It’s intentions can be viewed on the City of Reidsville site: http://www.ci.reidsville.nc.us/GreenwaysGrant.htm

Thank you for any and all support!!

Danny C. Booker, A.T.Hobo

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