Police mingle at East Winston ‘Coffee with a Cop' event
Assistant Chief Katrina Thompson has a conversation with Al Harvey during
“Coffee with a Cop” at the McDonald's on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on
Tuesday, May 16.
Photos by Tevin Stinson
An officer with the Winston-Salem Police Department sits down with a resident
during “Coffee with a Cop” on Tuesday, May 16.
BY lEVliN SlUNSUIN
THE CHRONICLE
Officers with the Winston-Salem Police Department
(WSPD) sat down with members of the East Winston
community earlier this week when they hosted their sec
ond “Coffee with a Cop” event at the McDonald’s on
Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
More than a dozen officers attended the event,
designed to bring police officers and community members
together on Tuesday, May 16, including Chief Bany
Rountree, who will retire later this year.
“It’s always good when the officers can come out and
meet with citizens in a setting like this,” said Rountree.
“This give citizens an opportunity to ask questions, have
coffee and a pastry and just enjoy themselves.”
Rountree said while several community members had
a list of questions for officers, several people in attendance
just wanted to have general conversations with officers.
One of those residents was Marva Reid. Reid who serves
as president of the East/Northeast Winston Neighborhood
Association, said although she has been working with the
WSPD since 2005, it feels good to see others getting out
and connecting with police.
“This is awesome,” said Reid. “They used to have
other programs like ‘Chat with the Chief,’ but this envi
ronment is a lot more welcoming.”
While “Coffee with a Cop” is still new to the city,
Chief Rountree said, they have already planned to host the
event in other communities in the near future. The first
event was held in March at the Whole Foods location on
Miller Street.
“We had a really good turnout at the first ‘Coffee with
a Cop’ and I knew we would do the same here in this com
munity,” he said. “There are a lot of good people in .this
community who want to interact with police officers.”
County considers universal recycling bids
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Residents in unincor
porated areas of the county
may see universal curbside
recycling service starting
this fall.
Forsyth County com
missioners are considering
several bids for the service
to all 25,137 households in
the county’s unincorporat
ed areas. The county ended
its voluntary subscription
recycling service last year
after two service providers
didn’t renew their con
tracts. Providers were los
ing money on the service
due to low participation
and a downturn in the com
modities market.
In February, after many
complaints about the serv
ice ending, the county
decided to try a new tactic:
a mandatory universal
service for unincorporated
county residents, which
they would pay with an
annual fee on their proper
ty tax bill. At the time,
Minor Barnette, director of
Forsyth’s environmental
assistance and protection
office, was hoping the
service could begin by July
and was confident he could
negotiate the price down to
below $15.
The formal bidding
process took longer than
expected and Barnette
reported back to commis
sioners with the results last
week.
“We had some signifi
cant responses from sever
al companies to the request
for proposals on curbside
collection in the unincor
porated areas of the coun
ty,” he said.
The lowest bidder,
North Davidson Garbage
Company, was confident it
could start the service by
October and would only
need to charge $2.47 a
month per household,
which would include pro
viding 96 gallon carts. That
would come out to $29.64
annually.
“I will tell you, that’s a
bargain,” said County
Commissioner Chairman
Dave Plyler.
The other bids for uni
versal service with 96 gal
lon carts provided were
Republic Services for
$4.45 a month per house
hold and Waste
Management for $7.85.
The prices are only what
the haulers would charge.
What households pay
would be a little higher due
to administrative fees from
the county.
North Davidson
Garbage Company was
established in 1970 and has
over 15,000 residential and
commercial customers in
Davidson County and sur
rounding areas. Any recy
clables it collects are
processed at its own recy
cling facility, which it
completed in 2011.
County Commissioner
Everette Witherspoon
asked if the price from
North Davidson might be
too low for them to effec
tively provide the service.
He was assured the county
would be doing its due dili
gence to make sure the
company can do the job.
The recycling proposal
will be a part of county
budget discussions, which
will begin in earnest next
week.
This will not affect the
county’s subscription
garbage collection service,
which is under contract
until next year. In
February, commissioners
did discuss the possibility
of changing garbage to a
universal service after that.
Curbside garbage and
recycling collection as a
mandatory universal serv
ice could drive down the
cost residents pay and
reduce the amount of ille
gal dumping in the county.
And even more proud parents
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