Earning your
age, turning
40 is biissful
BY ROXANNE POWERS
On June 20,1 turned 40. (Why
does this elicit visions of those
telethon people with those big
cardboard numbers?) I have two
reasons for telling you this. One,
because I wanted to tell someone
before my husband beat me to it;
and two, because I like getting
greeting cards in the mail. One of
the reasons I like getting cards in
the mail, is that the mail box serves
as a reminder that should the reno
vations at my house take so long
that it is eventually condemned, at
least I’ll have someplace to go.
You see, for the past six years,
some form of renovation has taken
place on our 80-year old house.
That wouldn’t be so bad, because
we initially calculated that the ren
ovations would take about five
years, and everyone knows that
these things always take longer
than estimated. Unless you’re a
bird.
Every year I hang ferns around
the expanse of our prized wrap
around porch; and every year there
is a contest between myself and as-
yet-to-be-determined kind of bird.
We have an agreement. If I catch
her in the early stages of construct
ing a nest, I get to disentangle her
twigs and straw from the delicate
Ironds of my fern. If, on the other
hand, she gets far enough into con
struction that her efforts actually
look like a nest, she gets squatters
rights. She always wins.
Losing to her didn’t really bother
me too much in the past, when the
only repercussions were that my
fern would take a bit of a beating
from her wings, and that I would
have to go to great pains to water
my fern without drowning her
babies. But when realization
dawned that it seemed to take her
about six hours to complete her
house, and that it has taken almost
six years and two dozen men to
almost complete mine. I’ll admit to
some petty feelings of jealousy.
Then, to add injury to insult,
whhin days she had five eggs in
her nest, w6ile that took me 16
years. In a few short weeks she
managed to teach her babies to fly.
My first baby is almost 20 years
old, and I still haven’t managed to
teach him how to get out of bed
before noon without considerable
prodding! He seems convinced that
there is still some way to get the
computer to do that for him.
The business of turning 40 is an
interesting thing. It’s the only age
that I can honestly say I’ve pre
pared myself for.. .for the past
three years. It sounds like such a
dignified number, that I wanted to
be sure that I was worthy of it. I
also wanted to make sure that 1
was headed for somewhere. I knew
that to get there I had a lot of work
to do. So I rolled up my sleeves
and got to work.
First on my list was to quit smok
ing. Because it was a long estab
lished addiction, I knew that if I
could accomplish that, I could
accomplish anything, including
losing the weight I gained because
I quit smoking.
Second on my list was to learn to
speak up when my feelings got
hurt, rather than to “stew until I
blew.” This time, I lost a few rela
tionships, but over time I’ve gained
peace of mind.
Perhaps that is what this thing
called aging gracefully is really all
about; accepting that life is really
nothing more than a series of trade
offs.
I’ve experienced many other per
sonal trials and triumphs in this
endeavor to “earn my age,” and
they’ve all been worth it. The past
few years of my life have undoubt
edly been the best years of my life;
so much so, in fact, that 1 think I’ll
get to work on “earning” my 50th
birthday.
Morrisvllle and Preston Pro^iress. Thursday. June 26.1997 - 5
Morrisville Town Board
adopts 1997-98 budget
Commissioner Silver-Smith objects to high salaries
ARBOREAL HONOR: AT&T of Morrisville donated a holly tree in memory of officer Earl Godwin, who
was killed in the line of duty last month. The tree was planted at the police station on Page Street, but
police plan to move it to the new police headquarters near Town Hall when construction is completed in
the fall. At back, Michael Poe, Rob Forster, Van Alston, Morrisville Police Chief Bruce Newnam, Danny
Ennis, Perry Johnson; at front. Tiffany Aikens, Renee McLamb, Sarona Kelley of the Wake County
Sheriff’s Department, and Morrisville officer Felicia Sykes, (squatting) Marcus Harvey.
Town retires Goodwin’s K-9 partner, gives him to widow
K-9 officer Grey was retired from
service with the Morrisville Police
Department and presented to Officer
Earl Godwin’s wife, Allyson, at the
meeting of the Morrisville Town
Board of Commissioners on May
28.
The resolution that the board
passed stated that “It is unlikely that
Grey would ever work effectively
with another officer... Grey resided
with Sgt. and Mrs. Godwin in their
home and was considered part of the
Godwin family.”
Town Manager David Hodgkins
said in a memorandum that giving
Grey to Mrs. Godwin “would be a
fitting tribute to Sgt. Godwin and
permit Grey to live where he has
lived since he came to the
Morrisville Police Department.”
Sgt. Godwin was killed in an auto
mobile accident on May 22 while
answering a police call. Grey had
been Godwin’s “partner” since
1993.
The town board adopted a resolu
tion thanking the town of Cary for
its help during the funeral of Police
Officer Earl Godwin on May 27.
Cary police officers had staffed the
town .while Morrisville officers
attended the funeral.
“Cary went well beyond being a
good neighbor,” said Commissioner
C.T. Moore, after Mayor Margaret
Broadwell presented the resolution
that she had drawn up. The resolu
tion passed unanimously.
The Morrisville Board of
Commissioners adopted the Fiscal
Year 1997-1998 budget in a 4-1 split
decision on May 28, after
Commissioner Mark Silver-Smith
complained that it was not conser
vative enough.
Silver-Smith said salaries for town
employees were “out of control,”
and objected to spending $100,000
on a utility building for the Public
Works Department.
A public hearing had drawn only
one speaker, Delores Scott of
Shiloh, who wondered where in the
budget was the money for water and
sewer for the rest of the Shiloh com
munity.
Town Manager David Hodgkins
assured her that the money was still
in the capital reserve fund for the
project. Town Engineer Jay Gibson
is working on a plan for the
unserved areas of Shiloh.
Later in the meeting.
Commissioner Billy Sauls made a
motion to amend the budget to move
$12,000 from board contingency to
fund the Morrisville Chamber of
Commerce. The chamber had
requested $24,000. No funding for
the chamber had been included in
the earlier version of the budget. His
motion passed unanimously.
New expense account procedures for town;
Silver-Smith receives no support on fees
Commissioner C. T. Moore made
sure Monday night that no board
members were charging mileage for
trips within Wake County.
His motion was supported unani
mously that anything in Wake
County should be considered local
and mileage should not be charged.
“Do not infer that anyone has been
doing wrong,” Mayor Margaret
Broadwell said after the vote. “The
. poji^^ha? been in pl^e.^at le^(^.
since 1984, whether or not you^
chose to take advantage of it.”
At a previous meeting, Moore
made a motion that expense
accounts for commissioners must
come before the board for
approval.
Moore commented that it was an
unspoken rule that mileage less than
50 miles should not be turned in.
“Our pay is our expense,” he said.
“When we voted a $1,000 raise the
last time, we done it for expenses,”
he said. “We don’t turn in mileage
for anything that’s under 50 miles
from Morrisville, and nobody ever
has, I don’t believe.”
“Yes, they have routinely,”
responded Mayor Margaret
Broadwell. “In past years, we’ve
always done it that way, and nobody
has brought it to my attention that
anything had changed.”
Mrs. Broadwell said, “I’m sure
this is directed to me, and I will say
publicly that if anyone wants a copy
of anything that’s gone into the
town, it’s public record, and if you
have any difficulty getting it that
way, come to me and I’ll give it to
you right now. I have it all at the
house; I keep accurate records.
Certainly I can tell you all the places
I’ve been on behalf of the town.”
“I didn’t mention any names,”
Moore said. “This is coming from a
different place.”
The motion passed unanimously.
The board unanimously adopted a
10-year solid waste management
plan that was formed by the county
with input from local municipalities.
Commissioner Mark Silver-Smith
got no support from his fellow board
members when he asked that an
administrative ch^ge for residential
water accounts be studied.
He said his neighbors had won
dered why an administrative fee of
$3.07 was charged for use of
portable irrigation meters.
After some discussion.
Commissioner C.T. Moore made the
motion to take the item off the agen
da and not bring it back for a year.
The motion passed in a 4-1 split,
with Silver-Smith dissenting.
Board honors
Finance Officer
The town board unanimously
voted to award Finance Officer
Julia Ketchum with six framed
Jerry Miller prints to show its
appreciation for her efforts with
the town budget and to recognize
her for receiving a national award
for the fifth year in a row.
Mrs. Ketchum received the
Certificate of Achievement for
Excellence in Financial
Reporting from the Government
Finance Officers’ Association, a
national organization.
It is the highest form of recogni
tion in governmental accounting
and financial reporting, and rep
resents a significant accomplish
ment by a government and its
management. The town must sub
mit an application for the award
and meet stringent specifications
to receive it.
It is the fifth year in a row that
Morrisville has received the
award.
Later in the meeting, Silver-Smith
insulted Town Manager David
Hodgkins and Police Chief Bruce
Newnam and said they were not
doing their jobs.
Silver-Smith called for an investi
gation into the operations of the
police department, and said, “I don’t
want to have any more police offi
cers hurt because of lack of supervi
sion.”
He also said Hodgkins was “not
performing,” and “afraid to do his
job.” He said Hodgkins should be
looking into problems in the police
department.
His outburst came after
Commissioner Phyllis Newnam
made the motion to extend
Hodgkins contract for two years.
The personnel committee, which
Mrs. Newnam chairs, was to have
met in February to evaluate
Hodgkins. At a work session in
May, Mayor Margaret Broadwell
objected to the across-the-board pay
increase for Hodgkins and asked
about his evaluation.
Mrs. Newnam said at the meeting
the personnel committee had met
and decided to recommend an
extension of his contract.
The motion passed in a 4-1 split
with Silver-Smith dissenting.
Local company
donating labor for
fire station work
Crowder Construction Co. will
have an “employee workday” and
spread some stone at Fire Station
Number One off Aviation Parkway
onThursday, July 3, at no cost to
the town.
The company, located off N.C. 54
in Morrisville, approached the town
about donating some construction
work.
The town will supply the materi
als. Crowder will do some grading
and spread the stone. The project is
needed to help with drainage.
“Crowder construction has com
pleted their first 50 years of busi
ness and to celebrate, will give a
day back to the communities that
have helped us succeed during
thelast century,” said Candy Mas-
tin, office manager of the Morris
ville office.
The company, based out of
Charlotte, also has offices in Bris
tol, Tenn., and Spartanburg, S.C.
The Morrisville branch has been
in business 10 years. Five or six
employees will work at the fire
station.
^^MoffwVa &Pr*»ton
I he rroarcM
Offices located at
616 West Chatham Street
P. 0. Box 1539
Apex, NC 27502
Phone; (919) 362-8356 • Fax: (919) 362-1369
Ann Kirkland Publisher
Suzette Rodriguez Executive Editor
Published monthly by the KNI Newspaper
Network. Bulk permit postage paid at
Morrisville. NC 27560. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to The Morrisville &
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