Newspapers / Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.) / April 17, 2019, edition 1 / Page 3
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BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 APRIL 17,20191 Continued Heroes we have to remain focused to help them.” Walton’s supervisor, J.W. Stalls, agreed. “You have to be able to stay collected to do this job,” she said. Bertie County’s dispatch ers work two weeks of day shift, two weeks of night shift and every other weekend. Kena Bell joined the de partment in November of 2018. She admits it was a bit overwhelming at first. “1 had to get my radio ear,” Bell said. She recalled listen ing to the radio during train ing and asking, “You heard what?” She said she may not have had “that” call yet, but she knows it is coming. That call being the one a person will never forget. In five years, Walton had begun a list of those calls. “The sound of gunfire while you are on the phone,” as she shook her head. A caller to 911 was shot while she was on the line with them. With 19 years behind her. Stalls has seen many situ ations come through the switchboard. While alone at the switch board, Stalls dispatched re sources to her own sister’s wreck. She did not realize at first who the victim was. By the time she did. Stalls had no choice but to stay fo cused and get the job done. As if the job were not in tense enough, factor in the fact many of the dispatchers live in the county. “That’s probably one of the hardest aspects of our job, living in the county, working in the county and being so rural, probably 80 percent of the time you are going to know the person involved,” Stalls explained. “It’s crazy,” Walton said. “Because with us actually living in the county and us taking calls in the county, you know half the people you talk to.” “Just last week we took a call at a trailer park, a fire. Why would it be my grand ma’s trailer park that caught on fire? You just never know,” she said. So how do they look after one another? “It’s a family thing,” Walton laughed. Stalls agreed. “We are one big family.” Each dispatcher has their own idea of what they hope the public will better under stand about calling 911. Stalls explained, “Stay calm, and don’t get frustrat ed with our questions, easier said than done, but we ask certain questions for certain reasons.” Bell’s request to callers is, “Know where you are. Try your best to stay as calm as possible.” Walton provided some thing to think about regard ing cell phones that have been deactivated. “Those disconnected cell phones you let your children play with them and you let your children ride the bus with them, they can still call 911,” Walton explained. She recalled one specific incident where a child with one of those phones called throughout the morning, around 15 times. In addition to being a great distraction, these calls tie up one of the two incoming lines. “I would hate to be the call that wasn’t an emergency and kept an emergency from going through,” Stalls ex plained. Their superpower is multi tasking. However, the public is asked to remember, “we are human too,” explained Bell. Those who make up the Bertie County 911 Com munications Staff are: J.W. Stalls, Wenonador Cherry, Nedra Williams, Travis Jack- son, Courtney Walton, Mela nie Barnes, Kayla White, Ka’Wania Parker, Brad Barnes, Melissa Hand, Joyvi- ta Dameron, Josh Woody, Melody Spence, Kena Bell and Christian Holley. Sarah Hodges Stalls can be reached via email atshstalls® ncweeklies.com. Asbell on the mostly retired popu lation of their town. “A lot of trust has been be trayed,” he explained. “It’s a dark spot on our little town’s history.” Jennifer Evans, the book keeper hired by Powellsville who found the discrepancies leading to the investigation, also addressed the court. “Due to Mr. Asbell’s mis handling of funds, we’ve had to adjust the water fees two different times,” she ex plained, directing her next comment to the judge. “Please be firm and stead fast and hold him account able.” Evans explained there had been “excessive amounts of gas purchases” discovered Windsor Sion, the board agreed to meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25 to allow citizens to speak with the board. The mayor said people on both sides of the issue would be allowed to speak as the board hears from its citizens. The meeting is set to take place in the Robert B. Spivey Meeting Room at the Wind sor Town Hall. In addition to hearing from citizens, the board will also revisit their earlier decision to eliminate One-Stop Vot ing for upcoming municipal elections. Windsor Town Administra as well as Asbell being paid for positions other than mayor. “It was a well premeditated scheme,” she told of Asbell. Wes Camden, attorney for Asbell, told the court, “This has been an incredibly dif ficult day for Mr. Asbell,” explaining this was not how his client saw his political career coming to an end. The 76-year old former mayor was asked by the judge, “Are you guilty?” He responded, “As charged, sir.” The plea deal allows As bell to make restitution for $37,307.69, which is only what could be definitively proven, according to Charles Spahos, attorney for the state. Peele explained town lead ers had agreed this amount seemed “very minimal for what has happened.” “We recognize full well this is not going to repair the damages done,” Peele said. Judge Blount agreed. “1 told the lawyers 1 was not comfortable with this,” he stated. Blount told Mayor Peele, “1 normally don’t say a lot in court.” He continued, “The victims and how they feel is important to me.” Peele nodded to the judge. “We want some finality,” he stated. “It’s been 30 months now.” A check was turned over to the state’s attorney from Asbell Monday in order to begin repayment. The check was then handed over to town officials. Asbell will be expected to make payment on the debt each month. Failure to do so will be seen as a probation violation. Monday’s court case com pleted two-plus years of turbulent times in Powells ville, which began on Aug. 2, 2016. During a meeting of the Powellsville Commissioners, it was made clear the town was under investigation by the State Bureau of Investi gation. The board actions during the meeting revealed the investigation was linked to then-Mayor Thomas Asbell. Among the resolutions passed during the August 2, 2016 meeting were: 1. Mayor Thomas Asbell was prohibitetd from enter ing the town hall, unless es corted by law enforcement. 2. Asbell’s salaries as Water Manager and Maintenance Manager were terminated as of the meeting date. 3. Cell phone owned by the town of Powellsville and used by Asbell was to be sur rendered to the town com missioners immediately. 4. Locks on the office and conference room were changed and Asbell was di rected to surrender all keys belonging to the town imme diately. 5. Asbell was suspended from his role as Powellsville Finance Officer. Sarah Hodges Stalls can be reached via email atshstalls® ncweeklies.com. tor Allen Castelloe said he had received new informa tion since the board voted unanimously to end One- Stop voting. He said that vote effectively eliminated all voting for town offices ex cept those cast on Election Day. He said the Bertie County Board of Elections said the town could not have ab sentee ballots of any kind if commissioners upheld their decision to eliminate One- Stop voting. Mayor Pro-Tempore Cathy Wilson said the board would have to revisit the decision if that were the case because it was not right to eliminate absentee ballots. “It is critical to have absen tee ballots,” she said before making a motion to overturn the board’s earlier vote. Commissioner Randy K. Whitaker amended the mo tion to reverse the earlier decision completely. Commissioner Randy Wal ston said he agreed with his fellow board members call ing the elimination of absen tee ballots “a game chang er.” He said he wanted to know if the decision rendered by the Bertie County Board of Elections was a local deci sion, or made according to state law. He also asked if other mu nicipalities in Bertie County, none of which utilize One- Stop voting, were also barred from having absentee ballot ing. Castelloe said he did not know which body made the decision about absentee bal lots, but would find out. He said he did not believe other towns offered absentee bal lots. The board agreed by con sensus to allow Castelloe to find out the answer to ques tions posed by Walston be fore proceeding with a vote. Procedurally, the board decided to let both Wil son’s motion and Whitaker’s amendment die due to lack of a second so they could ad dress the matter April 25. The board also delayed a decision on a request from Ryan and Samantha Ellis to remove a dilapidated struc ture at 704 North King St. The board is investigating the most economical way to help with the request, and will take it back up during its May meeting. In other business, the board: * approved a bid by Tripp Brothers to pave streets in Windsor; and * discussed stop signs and parking on Hofler Avenue. Thadd White can be reached via email at twhite®ncweek- lies.com. 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Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.)
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