Newspapers / The Warren Record (Warrenton, … / June 14, 1989, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
VarrentonKem.Library X 117 8?Maln St. larrenton, n.C. 27589 ?l|e Uarren tRecorii Volume 94 25c Per Copy Warrenton, County Of Warren, North Carolina Wednesday, June 14, 1989 Number 24 Warren Board Approves Last-Minute Expenditure Of Funds By THURLETTA M. BROWN News Editor Purchases of needed equipment before the "hand that giveth returns to taketh away" were among the deci sions made Monday night by the War ren County Board of Education. The $172,000 to be spent was the balance of Warren County Schools' allocation from the county of a portion of the proceeds from the two half-cent sales taxes. Traditionally, the Warren County Board of County Commis sioners each year has allocated 60 per cent of those taxes to Warren Schools. That practice is expected to continue, although for the next fiscal year, state statute requires that only 30-percent of the first-lialf-cent sales tax be allocated for school capital needs. According to County Finance Officer Susan Brown, proceeds from the fourth-quarter sales taxes will not be received by the county until Aug. 15. Although the actual amount of receipts is not known, the $172,000 is the estimated amount due Warren County Schools for 1980-90. Earmarked for capital outlay and held in reserve for the school system by the board of coun ty commissioners, the proceeds from the fourth-quarter sales tax allocation will be credited to Warren County Schools for the 1989-90 fiscal year. Furniture for the planned addition to Warren County High School will claim $72,000 of the funds. Included in the state contract will be student desks, tables and teacher's function stations for 12 classrooms, seven remediation areas, a band area, as well as health, masonry and distributive education areas. The second-largest amount?$33,500 ?will be spent under state contract on a 1990 school activity bus. An estimated $15,715 will be spent on security systems for selected schools to protect property and furnishings. ? A lift-station grinder for Warren County High School will claim $15,645 of the allocation. A grinder was not in cluded in the sewage treatment system provided for Warren County High School when it was constructed. Following purchase, under state con tract, and installation of the grinder, manual cleaning of solid waste block ages in the system will no longer be required. A "desk-top" publishing computer system for the central office will be purchased using $15,000 of the funds. On loan to Warren County Schools already, the unit will be used for volume printing for the school system. A total of $10,770 will be used for the purchase, under state contract, of a 1989 Chevrolet Caprice V6 for the school-business use of the new super intendent of schools. The remaining $475 will be used to purchase an administrator's desk chair for the central office. But while an apparent "shower of riches" spelled good news for the board Monday night, the potential loss of funds for the next school year loomed near. The request for 1989-90 local funds submitted recently by the board of education to the county commissioners had totaled $1,974,783. The recom mendation submitted to the board of (Continued on page 5) A Warrenton Rural Fire Department fireman at tempts to extinguish the Maze at the home of Ms. Doris Davis located off SR 1001 just outside the Warrenton city limits. The fire swept through Ms. Davis' trailer Monday afternoon while she was at work. Firemen have not been able to determine the cause of the fire, and the home is a total loss. (Photo by Brenda Clarke) Former Warren Teacher Arrested In Drug Bust A Wildwood Point man and a former Warren County school teacher are expected to appear in Warren County District Court to day (Wednesday) to answer to an assortment of drug-related charges, following their arrest last week in a bust of an alleged, "large-scale" cocaine operation. Daniel Lee "Snake" Rook, 34, and Kimberly Beth Aman, 31, were arrested last Wednesday at the Rook mobile home in Wild wood Point Subdivision on Lake Gaston. Following a search of the resi dence, officers confiscated 50 grams of cocaine from the living room and bedroom and $962 in cash, which Rook had on his per son. According to Chief Deputy Bolton, the "street value" of one half ounce of cocaine is about $1,400. He estimated the "street value" of the cocaine confiscated from the Rook home at about $3,000. Rook was charged initially with maintaining a dwelling for keep ing a controlled substance, possession of cocaine with intent to sell or deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and felonious possession of cocaine. He was confined in the Warren County Jail under bond of $100,000. Ms. Aman, currently of Roa noke Rapids, was arrested on June 7 and charged initially with felonious possession of cocaine. According to Chief Deputy Bol ton, prior to her arrest, Ms. Aman had allegedly attempted to swallow about 40 grams of the co caine. "It was fortunate that we were able to remove the drug from her mouth," Bolton said. In gestion of large quantities of the drug is fatal. Ms. Aman's bond was set at $25,000, and she was transported to Raleigh for con finement in the women's section of Central Prison there. But on the following day, addi tional charges were made and bonds for both suspects were in creased. Rook was charged with trafficking cocaine, which car ries an additional bond of $50,000. Currently, his bond is $150,000. Ms. Aman was also charged with trafficking cocaine. Her bond was increased by $25,000 for a total of $50,000. According to James Jordan, assistant superintendent of War ren County schools, Ms. Aman was a special education/EMH teacher at Mariam Boyd Ele mentary School from January to June of last year. She resigned at the end of that school year, giv ing as her reasons a desire to secure employment closer to home and pursue graduate study. Since February of this year, Ms. Aman had taught at an elemen tary school in Aurelian Springs, until beginning a period of sick leave. Although no details of her performance there were avail able, Jordan said Ms. Aman had received "good evaluations" for her work at Mariam Boyd. Documents on file in the War ren County Sheriff's Department list Rook as the owner of . the Crossroads Grocery on Lake Gaston. Chief Deputy Bolton said Tues day that the drug bust had been coordinated to coincide with one conducted at the Roanoke Rapids residence of Christy Moseley. A search of the Moseley residence resulted in the confiscation of $1,000 in cash and about one-half ounce of cocaine. At press time, Ms. Moseley faced no charges in Warren County and further details were not available. The bust of the Rook home had followed investigations by the Warren County Sheriff's Depart ment, the Roanoke Rapids Police Department and the Hender son/Vance Vice Unit. In addition to Chief Deputy Bolton, Det. Sgt. Lawrence Harrison and Deputy Sean Brake of the Warren Coun ty Sheriffs Department partici pated in the investigation. Det. Sgt. W. R. Currin was the investi (Continued on page 5) Possessions Lost In Fire The owner of a single-wide mobile home returned Monday afternoon to find all she and her children had left were the clothes on their backs. This happened after fire raged through a trailer belonging to Doris Davis, located off SR 1001 just outside the Warrenton city limits. Damage was estimated be tween $8,000 and $10,000 to the trailer and between $6,000 and $8,000 to its contents. Warrenton Rural firemen received the call at 3:43 p.m. When the eight responding firefighters arrived on the scene with a pumper and a tanker, the trailer was already engulfed in flames. Fire Chief Kenny Clayton described the trailer as a total loss. He said all the sides of the mobile home had been burned out and the roof of the structure had already caved in upon their arrival. Firemen were on the scene about an hour and a half. The cpuse of the blaze is still undeter mined, and an investigation into the matter is pending. Clyde Smith, a nearby neighbor of the Davis family, has asked all Warren County residents to help by contributing clothing or furniture items or money for Ms. Davis and her family. Clothes in a boy's size 18, a girl's size 9/10, and a ladies' size 13/14 or 15/16 are needed. Those wishing to help may call 257-4363, 257-1061 or 257-4111. Percentage Was Off In Report Last Week The editor's note in last week's edition of The Warren Record erroneously quoted Dwayne Pat terson, Warren County Schools finance officer, as saying that state funds would cover 69 per cent of the salary of the new superintendent of schools. The correct percentage is 65 percent. We regret the error. Warrenton Elastic Industry Looking At Site In Franklin By DIANE DAVIS Staff Writer A Warrenton elastic manufac turer says the lack of dependable and reliable employees is the main reason he is considering moving his facility to Louisburg. His tentative plans will become final if the Louisburg Town Board makes a favorable decision at their next meeting on a rezoning request for the plant. According to Marvin Lewis, plant manager for Stretch Knit Elastic, approval has already been granted by the Louisburg Planning Board to change zoning on the property at the corner of N. C. 561 and Bickett Boulevard, which formerly housed an IGA grocery store. The property, which is owned . by Ford Enterprises, has been re quested to be rezoned from B-2 (highway business) to 1-1 (light industrial). In addition, the planning board on Thursday of last week granted a special exception permit for the elastics plant to locate there, with the exception that there be some type of screening on the windows to block the view from the highway. A favorable decision by tbe Louisburg Town Board at their July 10 meeting will confirm Lewis' plans. Although he could not say when the Warrenton plant would be relocating, he did in dicate that there is a strong possibility the move will take place within two months after a favorable decision is made. In a telephone interview Mon day morning, Lewis said he would like to keep the factory in Warrenton. However, he said the lack of employees in Warren County to keep a third-shift run ning forced him to make the deci sion to move. "I want to keep this business in Warrenton," he said. "But if we stay here, we are going down." Lewis said that his employees' lack of attendance, reliability and dependability were the main reasons for his making the deci sion to leave Warren County. He said that there needs to be a third shift operation, mainly because it helps him to keep in line with his competitors. Lewis cited the Warren Coun ty Department of Social Services as his "biggest competitor" in the fight for employees. "Social services is my biggest labor competitor," he said. "I agree that they should help the people that need it, but they are not motivating these people enough to get them out there to work. They make it too easy for them." Lewis said a good example of this is an employee who is a female and a single parent. He said that many of these em ployees have someone in their families who babysit for them while they work. When their "free" babysitter can't babysit anymore, Lewis said the worker usually quits "because she can't afford to pay a babysitter and make a living, too." "Why do they (social services) take care of these people totally instead of just paying for the child's day care?" he said. Stretch Knit moved to Ridge way Street in Warrenton in January of 1986. Since that time, Lewis said he has had to shut down his third-shift operation "at least half a dozen times" because of his employees and their failure to work. Currently, Lewis has 21 knit ting machines and between 30 and 40 employees. In Ixiuisburg, he will keep the same number of machines and employees, but will house them in a smaller plant. He believes the operation there will still run smoothly as there will be "no wasted space." Lewis said he told his employees on Friday of last week about the plans to relocate to Louisburg, and said he received some positive feedback from them. All of them have been of fered jobs at the Louisburg plant. Lewis is also awaiting a deci sion from his landlords, Robert Shearin and Tommy Wagner, on whether they will allow him to terminate the five-year lease he signed when he first located in Warrenton. He believes they will support his decision to relocate. "They've expressed their feel ings to me," Lewis said. "They know that I need to have a suc cessful operation." CP&L Scotches Rumors Of Warrenton Closing "There are no plans at this time to close the Warrenton branch of Carolina Power & Light Company," Roger Hannah, Sr. communications specialist, said last week in the wake of rumors to that effect which have made their way through the town. According to Hannah, CP&L several months ago began an organizational analysis of all operations of the company. The purpose of the study is to deter mine the most cost-effective way of operating for CP&L's cus tomers. "It is merely an attempt to make our company more effi cient," Hannah said. Hannah explained that the cur rent review is a part of a total quality-effectiveness study begun several years ago by CP&L. "No Rafters, Pool Are Shut Down The owners of The Rafters Seafood and Steakhouse have closed their doors and placed a for sale sign on their business because of the lack of patronage, they announced this week. According to Mrs. Phyllis Peele, the restaurant located off Country Club Road (N. C. 58) out side of the Warrenton town limits will not be open for business any longer. In addition, the pool located on The Rafters property has been closed for the summer. Mrs. Peele said Tuesday after noon in a telephone interview that all money paid toward pool membership has been returned. However, another restaurant owned by the Peeles, Main Street Cafe, will remain open for business. The cafe, located on South Main Street in Warrenton, has extended its hours?6 a.m. until 8 p.m. daily. The eatery will not be open for business on Sundays. Both businesses are for sale, Mrs. Peele said. single operation or location is be ing singled out," he said. "It's a long-term process." "Management has collected a great deal of information over the last eight months," Jim Parnell, CP&L local manager, confirmed this week. According to Hannah, the com pany expects to review the pre liminary results of the study in the fall. "There is a possibility that we may lose positions in cer tain areas, but it is premature to speculate now what sort of out come there will be," he said. "We have had a long commitment to Warren County and will continue to serve our customers there," he said. "I have every confidence that the CP&L senior management staff will make the best decision for its customers, employees and stockholders," said Parnell this week. "Their decision should allow us to operate very com petitively in the 1990's," he concluded. The Warrenton office is one of more than 45 branches operated by CP&L in North Carolina. Vocational Building At JG To Be Gutted The old vocational education building on the John Graham campus will be destroyed. The Warren County Board of Education Monday night ap proved an allocation of $6,000 from the next fiscal year's budget for the demolition of the old structure. The action was taken by the board after learning that the in terior of the building had col lapsed. According to the report presented to the board by Mrs. Sue Skinner and James Moss, the bid submitted by Paul Kearney, of Warrenton, was substantially k>wer than those from the other two contractors. The wood from the building will be hauled to the Warren County (Continued on page 5)
The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 14, 1989, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75