Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / Aug. 23, 1984, edition 1 / Page 5
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Letters to the Editor TBS PERQUIMANS WEEKLY As a member of the Board of Directors of the N.C. Mental Retardation Association, I would like to Inform your readers of a situation which we parents and guardians of institutionalized, mentally handicapped persons are facing should Senate Bill no. 2053 pass. This hill, introduced by Senator John Chaffee, R-R.I.. would mandate the gradual withdrawal of Medicaid funding for mental retardation facilities housing 15 or more residents. Without federal funds to supplement the state monies, no state will be financially able to provide the care currently available in centers such as The Caswell Center in Kinston. They would be forced to close these centers and relocated the the residents in the community. We would be the first to agree that those who can function with a community setting should be given the opportunity to do so. But, to pass a bill that is virtually saying all retarded persons can function in the community is ridiculous! There are many mentall hahdicapped persons who required relatively sophisticated and intensive services which would be impractical and uneconomical to deliver in a family size setting in the community. We need your help! Won't you write to Senators Helms, East, and Chaffee and Representative Jones asking them to oppose this Senate Bill no. 2053 or any version of it? Thank you. Betty Swindell Edenton, N.C. August 15, 1984 Editor THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY I reacted to Mr. Jesse Harris' oppositional comments regarding future development in Hertford with dismay and amusement. Our Hertford home is bordered by his property on three sides. On one side is the back of a shopping center with copious litter, rotting garbage and four foot weeds. On the other two sides are houses? both in need of extensive repairs. One is unoccupied and has peeling paint, broken windows, unkept lawn and shrubs, and broken glass in the backyard. Down the block is another structure with broken glass (which covered the sidewalk for a year!), collapsing staircases, and which houses numerous pigeon and wild cats. Both of these structures present safety hazards. If Mr. Harris has the civic pride which he espouses, I suggest that he spend time and r RETIREMENT PLANS (Under the New Law) A May, 1983, survey by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that there were 16.7 million IRAs at the end of 1982. The averoge oge of on IRA owner wos 46. and more women than men owned IRAs. The new tax act of 1984 makes some changes in the rules for IRAs and other retirement plans. Earlier versions of the act would have allowed people to put more money into IRAs: however, the law as it was passed retains the current contribution limit of earned income or $3,000 ($2,250 for spousal IRAs), whichever is lower. Starting with the 1984 tax returns, taxpayers will have only until the following April 15th to actuolly make a tax deductible IRA contribution. Divorced people will be able to count alimony received as "earned income" In calculating how much they can put Into an IRA. Under prior law, up to $100,000 in an IRA or other retirement plan was excludable from an estate for pur pose* of calculating estate tax. The new bid eliminates this exclusion after 1964. a provision that will be significant only for estates large enough to be subject to the estate tax (over $400,000 In 1965). ? , - Current law requires that at age 70% an Individual must begin withdrawing from his IRA, and in amounts that withdraw all IRA funds ,n|'. III. - ? ? * wiiTftn iw individual s nit exptcTan* cy at calculated by IRA tables. The new law allow* Individuals to recalculate their life expectancy end )he payment schedule a* often o* every year. The effect of tM* provi sion Is to stretch out the payments to have them more cloely match actual ?' ? i ' Th* tax ocf Include* other provl L? " ??* ? nl|,n, |_ IKKW onvcTing i vin viii vi ii piani. m mabye money maintaining or even beautifying his existing holdings and that he spend leu time criticising those individuals interested in Hertford's future development. PmI Shales 300 Grubb St Hertford EDITOR THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY Last week the Hertford Town Board held its regular monthly meeting on Monday night, August 13. When I walked into that room at 7:00 p.m., I noticed four people sitting in the audience whom I had never seen, nor hesrd of before. I soon learned that three of them, a lady and two gentlemen, were from Mt. Airy, N.C.; and that the other gentleman, I later learned, was from Garner, N.C. The issue then presented to us by Mayor W. D. Cox was whether or not the Town of Hertford should assist this private developer (presumably Mr. Gene Rees) in helping to finance his proposed shopping center to the sum of $350,000 to $400,000, which sun would come through a grant from the Federal Government. I knew nothing whatsoever about this financial plan until I read it in THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY on August 10th (Friday night). Ope other commissioner, Mr. Joe Towe White, stated that he had learned of it in the same manner that I did ? from THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY. I polled Mr. John Beers and Mr. Billy Winslow, both saying that they knew all about it. At the time of this writing, I do not know how and when they became familiar with this plan. I would like to emphasize at this point that the vote taken Monday night was not whether the Town Council was for or against the shopping center. The vote was whether or not the Town of Hertford should be a party toward funding it with taxpayers' money. I do not believe it would be a fair and non-discriminatory action relative to the present merchants of this town and county. I believe that Mr. Rees should finance his project within the private sector, not with public funds. The present merchants have not had access to any public funds, such as are being sought here. I am concerned about the figures given to us Monday night by the Garner, N.C. gentleman, Mr. George Gunyo. He said that the total cost of the project would be around $1,600,000, with the three stores totaling 32,640 square feet. That comes out to be almost fifty dollars per square foot. My concern is thusly based on the fact that in 1M3 my Edenton shopping center has beer appraised at around sixteet dollars per square foot; and the Hertford center, around thirteen dollars. This is indeed a large difference. And then we are told that Hertford would hold a second mortgage (1350 000 to 1400,000) behind an $800,000 first mortgage. Rightly or wrongly, I questioned the fiscal soundness of this investment. I believe that the other council members and the major ignored these figures and too quickly said, "Let's vote, etc...," and immediately passed the resolution, with my vote of abstention. To have voted a $400,000 second mortgage loan to a complete stranger would have been very careless and very irresponsible on my part. I had asked that the council delay for a few days, have a more pronounced article put in Thursday's paper for the general public's benefit and then meet Monday night for further discussion-a delay of only seven days. This would give a few days to do some checking and information gathering. And those who knew nothing of this potential loan (like me) would have an opportunity to meet with us the following Monday. That would still give us eleven days to file the application, ample time, in my opinion. For some reason, unknown to me, they wanted to vote on it Monday night, August 13. Now let me allude to a different aspect in this matter-whether I am for or against the proposed shopping center. To all who read this letter, I hope you will remember the next sentence, even if you forget, ignore, or disbelieve everything else I have written. I voted for rezoning this given site to shopping center. I have never opposed it from the very beginning. Why? Because I believe in the simple eternal right of every individual property owner to do as he wishes with his property, without governmental interference. (Of course, it should be in a reasonable manner. ) Rezoning the property is one thing; funding it with taxpayers' money is an entirely different issue. The Mt. Airy gentleman should do that on his own and be free to do so. I shall never act, as a town councilman, or otherwise, to impede him in any way. Up to now, I have never been guilty of "conflict of interest;" and at 65 years of age, I do not intend to start using my council seat for personal gain. Further, I fully realize that most people in this town and county want to see another center built. For competitive reasons, this is the way people ? should feel. The moat competition, the better for the customer. So, J esse Harris is in agreement with you, not withstanding my center here on ? Grubb Street. Whether this would hurt me personally, only time will tell. And if it did, I would hope to survive it. But as we all know, that would be a personal problem, affecting only me and my family. Having been very blessed and taken care of in many risky ventures over these many years, I have no reason to lose the faith I have this very - second, that things will work out to the satisfaction of us all. As to Jane Williams' article in last week's paper, the implication that I opposed the proposed shopping center should instead have been that I opposed the funding element of the . center. With so much debate going on, I can easily see how she surmised what my feeling may be toward the center itself. I did . not oppose the establishment of the center; there was never a vote on whether the council was , for or against the center. In this , vein, I was misrepresented, albeit, inadvertently so, I hope. I have some beliefs and ' opinions on this matter that I have purposely left out. It gets ' too personal! Jesae Harris 1 100 Clark St. Hertford J Rates and yields shown are used for illustration only, and reflect rates paid as of August 2, 1984. Actual rates are subject to change. Contact NCNB for current rates. Now NCNB certificates let you flex the muscle in your money From $1000 up, you pick the amounts. From 60 days to 60 months, you pick the time frames.You build the program that works best for you. As you can see by the examples in the chart,the more you invest cind the longeryou invest, the better your return. And, your deposits are insured to $100,000 by the FDIC. What's more, invest $10,000 or more in a certificate and qualify for Deluxe Banking:* no service charge checking, interest-on-checking, a standard-size safe deposit box, personalized checks, special rates on credit cards and personal loans, plus other services. All told, nobody offers you more ways to build up your bucks.Which, after all, is what you expect when a bank works to be the best in the state.One neighborhood at a time There is a substantial penalty for earty withdrawal of time deposits.
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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Aug. 23, 1984, edition 1
5
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