Newspapers / Morrisville and Preston Progress … / Dec. 19, 1996, edition 1 / Page 1
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■Hb ■^Morrisville & Preston The Progress Vol. 1, No. 1 Morrisville, N.C^ ^ Decemberl^ 1996 Town board awards bids for station By Suzette Rodriguez A roomier police station, four times the size of the present quarters oci Page Street, will soon t^e shape on the Morrisville Town campus. At their Dec. 10 meeting, Town Commissioners awarded ccmtracts totaling $648,829 for the one-suxy, 4,100-square-foot building and ap proved a 10-year financing plan to pay for it. Town Manager David Hodgkins said he was pleased with the good response from contractors and noted that the three lowest prices submitted by general contractors differed within a range of 4 per cent CommissionCTS awarded the bid to Webster Environmental Inc. of Ruffin. With a contingency added and the expense for soil testing and furnishings, Hodgkins expects the project to cost about $685,000. He said construction would start in mid-January and the station should be completed within eight months. At its meeting, the board also ac cepted a proposal from BB&T Leasing to borrow money at a rate of 4.9 percent over a 10-year peri od. A first installment of $88,581.44 will come due Jan. 1 of 1998 and follow there after. Hodgkins said a jx’operty tax in crease would not be needed to pay for the project. Commissioner Mark Silver- Smith, who cast the sole dissenting vote, said he didn’t object so much to the bid as he did to the fact that the town has no capital improve ment plan for such projects. "I don’t think it was a bad bid and the rate of borrowing was ex cellent,” he said. But Silver-Smith said he felt the town had enough on its plate and that the pohce station could have waited another 12 months. "As a businessman I want to see a program, a CIP that looks into the Sm town, page 3 NOTHING PULLS LIKE A DEERE-John and Maggie Belle Sears rotwing John Deere lawn mowers from a son and grandson-in-law, decided to decorate the front yard of their house at the comer of the couple hitched Santa at^ his sleigh to a new ride. A red light Davis Drive and High House Road a little differently this year. Bor- attached to the lead mower identified the representative Rudolph. | Local Guard unit prepares for trip to Germany EQUAL OPPORTUNITY—Specialist Heather Frederick of the Army National Guard’s 130th Finance Battalion cleans her weapon as part of the battalion’s preparation for deployment to Germany. Although Ms. Frederick appears ready for armed conflict, she, along with about 50 other soldiers in the battalion, are actually being sent to processing paperwork for soldiers’ pay and benefits. By D^bie Burdick Three detachments of Morris- ville’s Army National Guard are preparing for a sudden change in lifestyle. Lt. Col. Gary Wilder has said the troops, memb^ of his 130Ui Fi nance Battalion of the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard, are being deployed to Germany in ear ly to mid-January. They will be as signed to various locations in that country. Their deployntent is connected to U.S. soldiers being sent to Bosnia. But, as Wilder explains, their jobs will be on the paperwork end of the operation - iHOcessing pay, bene fits, life insurance. The troops were notified of the anticipated deployment in late No vember. Up until then, all but four of the 57 people were strictly weekend soldiers, most of them holding full-time civilian jobs. The holiday season finds them making large-scale plans for a move to Germany, a deployment that Wilder says is initially planned for as long as 270 days. The three detachments are in full preparation mode. On Thursday, Dec. 12, they were taking tests for German Driver’s licenses, doing equipment checks, and cleaning their weapons. While there is no expectation that these financial specialists will ever be involved in ccmbai, they follow the usual train ing procedures. Other preparations include a briefing on German customs, im munizations, and physicals. The deployment plans came as a surprise to the battalion, many of whom joined the National Guard for reasons more connected with career and financial security than military ambitions. But acceptance and g{^ cheer seemed to be the prevailing frame of mind as they prepared for the deployment at the base on National Guard Drive in Morrisville. Sgt. Mike Moser, a real estate salesman for Fonville Morisey, said that "in the back of your mind you know it [the deployment] could happen. Still, it’s a shock, but you get over it. Moser will be leaving his wife, Nancy, and his daughter, Beth, a toddler, when he heads to Germany next month. He said that much of his family preparations have revolved around arranging additiOTial care for Beth while his wife is at work. As a real estate agent with a flexible sched ule, he has been able to pick up his daughter at daycare and fill in for his wife, who works a 50-plus hour-a-week schedule. Grand parents have agreed to help out when Moser leaves. Specialist Heather Frederick, at 22, is fresh out of college and teaches second grade at a private school in Durham. While she joined the National Guard at least partly for tuition assistance, she said of the deployment, "I feel good about it. Whatever happens, we’re ready for it” She said her students, soon to be her former students, don’t always believe that she is also a soldier. The school has said her job will still be there for her when she returns. Ms. Frederick also leaves behind a boyfriend, who she said was ex cited at the prospect of her being sent to Germany. "He’s thinking about joining up himself," she said. Sgt. David Nobles, who fives in Willow Spring, is no stranger to deployments, although he wasn’t expecting this one. Nobles was in the regular Army, and served in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. Nobles, who must for the time being give up his status as a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel HiU, said that the Guard has been good about making sure he can still meet his college exam See GUARD, page 2 New class teaches Morrisville officers how to control fear, use adrenalin to catch crooks By David Leone It’s mid-morning on a Saturday and Bill Bowden and Steven Raks are equipped with battle gear - full helmets, chest protectors and sidearms. They talk quietly inside a warehouse building when the door opens and two police offices. similarly dressed, step through. That’s when the screaming starts. Less than a minute later, both Bowden and Raks are on the floor. handcuffed. The officers, David Abney and Don Ennis of the Mor risville Police Department, have just completed tiie first round of a Semunitions class, training that could one day save their lives. For most of the officers participa ting in the class, the scenario was the first time they had been in a close combat situation. And they learned fttjm it. "I had a lot of things going through my mind. Would I be justified (in using deadly force) — a lot of times you don’t have time to make that decision," Abney said. "They go in kind of calm and relaxed and when they come out adrenalin is pumping," he added. After every play, the officers meet with their role players and Semunitions trainer, Morrisville SgL A1 Rushing, to discuss how they reacted. After several incidents, they be gan learning how to respond and defuse the situation. Rushing says that’s the most important part of the training. "Not only do we teach them when to use deadly face but when not to use deadly toce," he says. "We want to prevent gunfire and deadly force is only used as a last resort." Role playing was held in both in- dota' and outdoor scenarios, with one or two offciers and perpetrators at the Morrisville Public Works Building and Wastewater Treat ment Plant During the situations, the officers fired and missed at close range, brought their guns out too slowly in an attempt to resolve disputes, left the nigger cocked when holsiering their wet^n after firing. Rushing said lawmen are aware of what the rush of adrenalin does K) their bodies and that it can save SMCLASS,pag«2 BULK RATE POSTAGE PAID MORRISVILLE, N.C. PERMIT #23 Delivered expressly to the residents of Morrisville and Preston RELEARNING THE BASICS-Morrisville Sgt. and Semunitions trainer Al Rushing goes over the role played situation with Morris ville officers David Abney and Don Ennis (right), while role playing “bad guys" Steven Rakes and Bill Bowden watch. Rushing com mended the officers for using their communication skills to help control and defuse the situation.
Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.)
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Dec. 19, 1996, edition 1
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