Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / July 14, 1988, edition 1 / Page 1
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The NEWS RECORD Serving Madison And Buncombe Counties Vol. 88 No. 28 Thursday, July 14, 1988 28753 COUNTY LIBRARY GENERAL DELIVERY MARSHALL NC '7 have waited two month ? for a decision and I haven't got an answer yet. You just keep putting me off." Donald Payne Marshall Policeman Fired By STEVE FERGUSON Interim Editor Marshall policeman and former police chief Bill Lisenbee was fired last Thursday by the Marshall Town Board because of departmental con flicts.' Alderman Iverson Bradley said the firing was the result of "a lot of little things over the years," culminating in a disagreement between Bradley and Lisenbee about a car chase out side Marshall, during which Lisenbee was accused oi not having his lights on. Other reasons included schedul ing conflicts because officer Ed McLean was attending A-B Tech for certification classes and disagreements with officer Charlie Tweed, Bradley said. "It's just general bad cooperation," Bradley said. "He has an attitude problem with anybody he's working with." Both McLean and Tweed declined comment. Usenbee said he felt the dismissal was politically motivated. "It's politics because of certain people I've arrested in trying to do an honest job," said Lisenbee. "They've tried everything in the world to get me to quit. It's a relief, actually, to get it out from under me. I knew it was coming. It's no surprise, ab solutely not." Lisenbee described the June 18 car chase which resulted in heated discussion between himself and Bradley outside Marshall Town Hall. "I was backed into the town hall parking lot about 11 p.m. (on Satur day, June 18), Lisenbee said. "1 got after a black Mustang that was speeding. I mean excessively fast, because when someone is within reason, I don't even bother them. "I took after it. I wasn't sure if I would be able to catch it or not." Lisenbee said his lights were not on when he first began pursuit. "If you're in a hurry you might be liable to pull right out with our lights off. It's not the first thing you do," he said. Lisenbee said he drove up Mashburn Hill looking for taillights, and, seeing none, he drove up Walnut Creek Drive. Near the bypass, he saw taillights and turned on his blue light. "I caught up with it, saw it wasn't the right car. turned my lights off and went back. I didn't think any more about it," he said. According to Bradley, the driver of that car was a woman who called his house when she got home. "She was literally scared within an inch of her life," Bradley said. Bradley questioned Lisenbee about the incident two days later at the June 20 town board meeting. "I asked him why he followed that woman," Bradley said. "He said he saw a Mustang coming through town about 60 miles per hour and it gave him the slip. Then he saw this car and thought it was the one he was looking for. But she drives a silver Ford Taurus. "So I asked him do you mean to tell me you can't tell the difference bet ween a black Mustang and a silver Ford Taurus?' He said it was dark and he couldn't tell, which led me to assume he didn't have his lights on. He took offense at that, but all I wanted was an explanation," Bradley said. "Bradley told me it better not hap pen again," Lisenbee said. "That triggered me off. Something like that is liable to happen again any time. I think he was trying to accuse me of stopping that car because there was a female in it. I didn't know whether the driver was black, white, male or female. I just told him to kiss my tail because I have never stopped a car because of who's driving it." Bradley denies that charge but ad mits "I lost my cool after he did. We're his supervisors, and I feel we have the right to ask questions. I told him just not to let it happen again. "On two occasions that night he told me to kiss his ass," Bradley said. "He said he would quit. 1 said go ahead, that nobody would cry over it." Last Thursday the board went into executive session from 7:30 p.m. unti 8:50 p.m. to talk to each of the three Marshall policemen about Lisenbee's performance as an officer. Then Lisenbee was asked into the ex ecutive session for his reaction. The board returned to open session and voted 3-0 in favor of dismissing Lisenbee. "Politics had nothing to do with it," said Bradley. "We called in each of the three other officers separately and asked them to talk about their dealings with Mr. Lisenbee." Lisenbee was hired as chief by former mayor Betty Wild in January 1985, but his status wasn't official un til being sworn in one year later. When the new town board took of fice in January of 1986, they removed Lisenbee as police chief and made him a police officer. "When they demoted me from police chief, I really didn't care," he said. "But you're not going to have a safe community if town hall's going to fight everyone that's trying to do -Continued on back page Bill Lisenbee Dr. Earl Leininger Appointed As Dean Of Faculty At MHC Mars HU1 College From Staff Reports Dr. C. Earl Leininger was chosen dean of the faculty at Mars Hill Col lege, an opening created because of administrative changes at the col lege. Leininger will be the officer of the administration responsible for the development, coordination, im plementation and assessment of the instructional program. He will also advise provost Donald Schmeltekopf on academic and instructional mat ters, assisting in the preparation of budgets related to the academic pro grams, and will supervise all educa tional administrators. He will also serve as chairman of th* faculty. Leininger has been chairman of the Division of Humanities and Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the col lege as well as vice-chairman of the faculty, a duty which included being the faculty advocate to the dean. A native of Ft. Smith, OK, he has a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma Baptist University, and a Bachelor of Divinity and Ph.D. from Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville. Prior to joining the department of religion and philosophy at Mars Hill, he served churches in Oklahoma and Kentucky, was a social worker, and was a teaching assistant at the seminary. He joined Mars Hill in 1968 and has held several internal ad ministrative positions including the vice-chairman of the faculty, a member of the administrative cabinet, a leader of the Relfective Life Experiences program, director of the Synoptics Program, director of the Cultural Values Program, member of the Dean's Council and chairman of the Plans and Policies Committee. -Continued on back page Dr. C. Earl Leininger Spring Creek School Major Debate At Madison School Board By HASSIE PONDEK Staff Writer The fight to keep Spring Creek School open still continues to be the major topic at the school board meetings. At last week's meeting, William Barutio met with the board and of fered assistance in helping to upgrade the physical plant at Spring Creek School. He indicated that he had contacted a constrution company and a drilling company, and had donated materials and labor to help repair the school. Baker agreed to look at Barutio's plans, but explained to Barutio that the board planned to have an open hearing concerning the consolidation of the schools, and that Spring Creek School might not be used for school purposes for any long period. A motion was made by Jewell Church that the board ask Aaron Ponder, County Maintenence Super visor, to meet with Barutio and his I committee to inspect the school under the direction of the school principal and to report the findings back to the board. This motion was passed. The findings will be discussed at a later date. Assistant Superintendent Bill Spears approached the board about the selection of an architect. He sub mitted a list of eight architectural Arms who were interested. He said that Ron Horrower with the En viromentai Testing would be willing to help with land selection for the school. He also presented the board with an estimate of need for 74,477 sq. feet of land to house the new middle school. pant in all other sports for coverage up to $3,000. Additional coverage up to $25,000 will cost an extra $9.75 and coverage above $25,000 will cost an additional $1.30 per player. Gerald Young made a motion to provide $11.05 per player coverage for in surance. The motion, seconded by Mike Jenkins, was passed unanimously. The board agreed to discuss how to fund the insurance at a later meeting. In other business before the board: ?Joan Castelloe. health eduction coordinator report that Madison County Schools received $3,500 in a State Competitive Grant from the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. The money will be spent on the drug abuse prevention program. ?Mr. George Pierce appeared before the board to request that his son Mark be permitted to attend Spr ing Creek School rather than Mar shall Primary due to his close prox imity to Spring Creek. Decision is pending until the application to ?change is complete. ?Superintendent Edwards presented Gerald Tomerlin's applica tion for Jonathan Tomerlin to attend Mountain Heritage High School. The application stated that he needed courses in drama, speech and jour nalism which Madison high did not of fer. Chairman Baker asked for a mo tion. The motion was not made, therefore, the application was not considered. ?Terry L. Price was authorized by the board as the finance officer and to be bonded for $100,000. Anderson made the motion to accept and bond Price and Church seconded the mo tion, which passed unanimously. ?Ken Lilley and Rhonda Lynn Chandler appeared before the board to request permission to take the GED Test. Motion was made and passed ?Board attorney, Forest Ball reviewed a group plan for dental in -Conlinued on back page Town Council Approves Operating Budget The Weavervilie Town Council has approved an operating budget of 1763,025 for the fiscal year which began July 1. The budget will not in crease property taxes for Weaver vilie' residents who currently are taxes at a rate of 45 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Although property taxes will not in crease, the town council voted to in crease fees for both water and sewer taps. Water tap fees have been raised to 9500, while sewer taps will now cost $900 The increases were approved unanimously. The new budget provides for the ad dition of one police officer to the town force at a coat of $13,963. The police department receive* the largest por The new budget also calls for a $25,000 contingency fund and pro vides $38,250 for recreation. The Weaverviile Public Library will also receive $3,600. (Mi June 29, the council met and ap proved a resolution requested by Flat Creek residents opposed to a propos ed quarry. Weaverviile officiate Join ed with Buncombe County officials in asking for an environmental impact study on the proposed quarry. State officials had granted the Vulcan Materials Co. a permit to operate the quarry in the Flat Creelt area. However, Flat Creek residents recently obtained a court order tem porarily halting the proposed project. The council has also new contract with the to be funded by a $159,897 Community I Development Block Grant from the state and $67,394 in local funds. On June 29th, the council approved a $164,000 appropriation to replace the sewer line on Gill Branch Rd. The state has approved a $60,000 grant for the project. On July 5, the council held a public hearing on a request for voluntary an nexation submitted by Janice and Forrest Weaver. The Weavers re quested the town annex six acres on East Street and provide water ser vice to two new homes. There were no comments made for or against the annexation during the public bearing attended by Mayor Reese Usher and Council men John Payne, Robert D rebel beis and Bende Koesters Aldermen Tables Rezoning Request By*R-T. KOENIG Mars Hill aldermen tabled a rezon ing request by businessman Don Payne following a public hearing on the proposed change Monday night. Payne has asked the town to rezone property he owns on N.C. 213 from R-l residential to C-2 commercial. He told the hearing he plans to build a five-bay self-service car wash on the property. Plans also call for construc tion of a 30 X 40-foot building to house a car cleaning service. Payne said the construction represents an invest ment of $125,000 and will create five The property is outside the town limits, but within Mars Hill's ex traterritorial jurisdiction. With the exception of land occupied by Payne's former business, the Mars Hill Service Center, all land border ing N.C. 213 outside Mars Hill is cur rently zoned as R-l residential. Payne's request for rezoning had been referred to the town planning board for consideration. Planning board chairman Eddie Fox presented aldermen with a letter stating that the planning board could not recom mend the change because "spot zon ing" is illegal. Town attorney Forest Ball agreed with the planning board's finding. Ball said that designating a single tract of land for commercial pur poses within a residential area has been ruled illegal in North Carolina courts. Ball recommended that the town study rezoning all land along N.C. 21) rather than designating a single tract for commercial use. Town manager Dahryl Boone told the hearing that he has received several other requests for rezoning from property owners on N.C. 213, in cluding former mayor Owen Tilson and fyugh Edwards. Because the public hearing had been called to consider only Payne's request, other molting requests could not be considered at Monday's hearing. Planning board member Wayne Roberts told the aldermen, "The had been a cordial session became heated when Payne was questioned by Yvette Wessel, a member of the planning board, regarding his plans for construction. The site has already been graded and Payne said a con tractor was due to begin construction on Tuesday. Payne told the hearing, "I have waited two months for a decision and I haven't got an answer yet. You just keep putting me off." Mayor Joe Godwin responded, say ing, "Mr. Payne, I consider that you have insulted the mayor, the board and the people of Mars Hill. I per sonally consider your arrogance an insult. I would suggest you reconsider because you have not yet received permission to build." On Tuesday, Payne told The News Record that he has reconsidered and will postpone plans to begin construc tion. Several Mars Hill residents ex pressed concerns regarding rezoning on N.C. 213. Bruce Phillips told the hearing, "The last thing we want is another Marshall bypass. The reason that happened was because there was no planning. We all recognize that growth must come, but it must be planned and controlled." Bruce Murray Jr., also a member of the town planning board, told the hearing, "With 1-26 coming through here, we'll be faced with more and more requests for commercial business. If we don't handle this in the right way, we're inviting trouble " Following 90 minutes of discussion on the matter, the town aldermen voted unanimously to return the ques tion to the town zoning board for fur ther study. The planning board will be asked to consider extending com mercial zoning along N.C. 213 from the town limits to the end of the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction The planning board will meet on Ju ly 18th to begin considering the issue the town aldermen at their Aug 1
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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July 14, 1988, edition 1
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