Cool—m— Jmnwi We*wdey, May 20, IfTO
16
. „ . _ . . County in grades 9- 12 are kA I r
THe Davie County Board of assigi) 3' ed High TlNv V *
Education, at its r 'S>dn School. AIJ students in grades 1 \ L* / ~*\ v
meeting on Monday, May , g w jtii the exception of some VJK*. \ x
1970, adjusted certain at *. ial education students, are v MTAA II
tendance areas and assigned JPJPj to elementary / |? W"l
students for the 1970-71 schoo schoo | the attendance area in y \ J
y All students living in Davie ey llve
Letter To The Editor
in your articles on the In
corporation of Cooleemee you
seem to be doing a little slanted
or biased reporting. Of course
there are some advantages to
incorporating the town, but,
there are also many dis
advantages, which you tend to
forget or overlook in your re
porting.
You emphasized the fact that
if incorporated we would re
ceive a share of the "fair share
taxes" from the state gasoline
taxes that we do not now re
ceive. I believe that if you would
look around the town most any
day of the week you will find
state maintenance crews work
ing on our streets and roads.
You failed to indicate if we
incorporate such maintenance
will become the responsibility of
the town. This would undoubt
ably call for a special "Bond
Issue" wr special tax in order to
buy maintenance equipment
and hire a civil engineer and
work crew. This special tax
would be in addition to the
already proposed tax rate of
SI.OO on the SIOO.OO. If I'm wrong
correct me.
You also keep referring to the
"industries" that would like to
locate here but do not do so
because the town does not con
trol the water and sewage
rights. Burlington has agreed to
sell the town the water for
resale, which I, for one, have
never heard of retail merchant
having "control" over a com
pany from which he buys goods
at wholesale for resale. Have
you? It would appear that Bur
lington Industries would still be
in control of the water. Has the
CIDA or anyone else thought of
trying to form a corporation to
buy the water rights from Bur
lington? Perhpas the federal
government would help us in
this venture in the way of a
grant. If we owned the rights the
corporation could be turned into
a profit making operation, by
selling the water to Burlington
and any other industry that is
interested, there by paying for
the street lights.
In your reporting of the gener
al town meeting (the one to
which the public was invited)
you said a lot of "Foolish"
questions were asked. The only
"Foolish" questions I have ever
heard were the ones for which I
had no sensible answer . Is this
what you and the CIDA meant
by "Foolish?" At that meeting
the majority of those present
requested another meeting to
further discuss the problem of
incorporation. This meeting
was never held. Why? Is it
scheduled for a later date? Did
the CIDA think you and your
paper could and would provide
us with the information we
need. Or were they afraid of
more "Foolish" questions?
In Mr. Setzer's budget, which
seems to be a little too low,
$13,000.00 was set aside for ad
ministration. I assume this
amount would be divided
among the City Commissioners
as salaries for being on the
council. This would mean these
members would be receiving
almost as much money, for a
"part time" job, as some of the
retirees, who would be paying
their salaries, received from
social security (their only in
come), in the form of taxes.
When you stop to consider most
of these retirees have already
paid for their homes at least
twice, taking into consideration
the rent they paid before being
given the opportunity to buy,
this hardly seems fair, does it?
Also, on the subject of budgets,
where could I appy for the SB,OOO
a year job as constable?
Since the CIDA proposed "to
have the good of the people of
Coo'.eemee at heart," why can't
the people be better informed as
to the industry that wishes to
locate here? Why are only a
select few privileged to know
this and other information
about what is happening to our
town?
In conclusion why don't you
gather more facts and tell it like
it is
I eagerly await your answers
to my "Foolish Questions."
James M. (Jimmy) Thompson
Box 546
64 Watt Street
Editors Note
Hie work on the streets is
done at the discretion of the
Highway Department and no
fixed amount is allotted for
Cooleemee. Of course this is
only one of the taxes a corporate
town receives from the state
and government. If in
corporated, an amount is deter
mined by the mileage of the
streets from Powell Bill, which
can be used for maintenance of
the streets only, but equipment
for such work on the street can
also be purchased with this
money. No special "Bond Is
sue" should be required for this.
I believe I referred to an
industry interested in locating
here instead of "industries.'
Burlington Industries has
agreed to sell the town ample
water that could be resold to an
interested industry. Burlington
also indicated that if the town
does not incorporate, they will
sell the water rights (dis
tribution) to a private enter
prize. The CIDA has neither the
money or authority to negotiate
with Burlington for these rights.
Burlington has NOT indicated
at this time, that they will sell
the entire water works to any
one.
The majority of people attend
ing the town meeting did in
dicate an interest of holding
another meeting. The CIDA is
considering calling another
meeting, .but only if it feels it
will be in the best interest of the
community. It feels that
another meeting, just for the
sake of a meeting would not be
beneficial.
As to what was meant by the
"foolish" questions mentioned
in a previous article. I consider
those as questions that no one
had the authority to definitely
answer until the town govern
ment is formed. And also, ques
tions used in the form of a
personal attact on an individual
or a specific business, which
had absolutely nothing to do
with the possibility of the town
becoming incorporated.
The budget which Mr. Setzer
presented to the group was theo
retical, to indicate services that
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could be furnished on a limited
budget. He distincly pointed out
that an act' ial budget could only
be fixed by the elected author
ities. Mr. Setzer was assuming
that the five councilmen would
not even receive a salary for
this term and the figure you
mentioned for administration is
for the town clerk and all the
maintainance employees. The
town council will receive none of
ths $13,000.
I assumed that everyone was
aware that if the incorporation
passes, applications for con
stable will be filed with the town
council, but let me point out,
that the actual salary will beset
by the town government The
18,000 suggested by Mr. Setzer
for law officers was for salaries
of a full-time and a part-time
policeman. As to where you
may apply for an 18,000 per
year job as constable, I would
suggest you talk with an em
ployment agency.
The reason the people can not
be better informed on the in
dustry that is interested in lo
cating here is because this infor
mation can not be released until
the interested industry decides
to make an official announce
ment. This is not the policy of
any industry to malce pre
mature announcements of their
interest on a new location until
definite plans are made. The
people know as much about this
as theCIDA, since they have not
been given the priviledge of
knowing the name of this inter
ested industry at this time.
As to gathering more facts
and telling it like it is, I am
doing the best I can. Anytime
you are in a position to obtain
additional facts concerning this
new venture, I will welcome the
opportunity to inform the people
through the Journal.
I hope I have been able to
answer some of your questions,
which I don't think are foolish,
and I sincerely appreciate your
taking the time and effort to
write the above letter. Your
interest and concern is greatly
appreciated and any future
comments are welcome.
MCB