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Serving Stokesdale, Oak Ridge, Summerfield, & Northwest Guilford County :: Your Locally Owned, General Interest Newspaper :: February 2014 Edition ::
Summerfield May Regulate Fireplaces, Furniture, And Odors
This vacant house on Hudson-James Road was totally destroyed. According to firefighters, they had to battle the blaze for three hours. Photo: The Star.
Two House Fires Hit Area, Woman Saved By Daughter
Under the Town of Summerfield’s proposed new ordinances to be voted on February 11th, this chair would be considered a public nuisance. Photo: The Star.
By The Star By The Star STOKESDALE – Over the last few weeks, firefighters have had to deal with cold weather but also large structure fires that totally destroyed two homes in the area, including one fire where a daughter helped save her mother from the roof of their burning home. The first fire took place on January 13th in the 8600 block of Hudson-James Road, which is a small road north of Highway 158 in northern Summerfield. According to Summerfield Fire Chief Chris Johnson, when firefighters arrived on the scene, the house was already fully involved or engulfed in flames. Johnson said they battled the flames at the house for three hours and that the house was a total loss. Chief Johnson said that firefighters from Huntsville, Stokesdale, Colfax, Bethany, Monroeton, Northeast, and Fire District 13 were there fighting the blaze. According to Johnson, the home was unoccupied at the time of the fire. Chief Johnson said that Chad Garrett, the county fire marshall, was investigating the blaze but he was not aware that any cause had been stated. “I don’t know if they came up with anything yet,” said Chief Johnson. DAUGHTER SAVES MOTHER IN HOUSE FIRE On Saturday, January 18th, a fire broke out in a home located on a farm on Washburn Road north of the Rockingham County line . In an interview with Fox8 News, Cathy Honacher told the station that she was taking down their Christmas tree when it fell onto a candle and immediately caught fire. Her daughter Maeren told the station that she was upstairs on the second story of the home and actually heard the fire downstairs. She ran outside, but her mother was still inside. “You could see the smoke coming out and I was calling for my mom and I was yelling for her and she wouldn’t answer me,” Maeren told Fox8. Meanwhile, her mother had gone up to the roof to escape the fire but could not get down past the blaze. Maeren then got an idea to start their farm tractor which had a front scoop on it and use it to reach her mother so she could climb down. She tried to start the tractor, but initially it would not fire up. “It was really cold and I couldn’t get it started, it kept stalling,” Maeren told the station. “My mom was coaching me and the whole time was saying ‘just try again.’” The tractor finally started up and Maeren was able to operate it and used it to reach her mother. The house was a total loss and the family lost a dog and a rabbit in the fire, but at least the family escaped unharmed. “She’s my hero,” said Maeren’s mother. The family is staying with relatives until they can rebuild. ::
Oak Ridge Water Costs State Of NC $26,000 A Month By The Star OAK RIDGE – Water contamination that has gone unresolved for decades is costing the state big bucks in Oak Ridge. According to an article in The Rhino Times newspaper in Greensboro, the State of North Carolina is now paying $26,000 a month to bring in water trucks to service 11 homes near the intersection of Linville Road and Highway 68. The tankers have been in service since July of 2012 meaning that the state has been paying over $500,000 for this temporary fix, said the newspaper in a report that appeared in its January 9th issue. The contamination is underground and has been the result of gasoline leaking from an underground storage tank at the old Oak Ridge Gas Mart, which was discovered in 1995, said the newspaper. As reporters at The Star have previously reported in years past, at that time around 1995, there were several attempts by the NC Department of Environmental Health and Natural Resources to identify wells contaminated by underground storage tanks. It was also around that time that the Town of Stokesdale discovered that much of its downtown water supply was contaminated by gasoline-related chemicals in the water supply, prompting that town to eventually create its own water system and tap into Forsyth County water lines supplied by the Yadkin River. When the contamination was found in Oak Ridge, a community well outside of the affected area was established and was servicing the homes until 2012, when demand from the homes outstripped the ability of the well to provide water. The Rhino Times reported that there are plans to extend a line to the residents that will be operated by a private firm called Aqua America. The firm is entering into a contract with The Town of Oak Ridge to operate the water supply, said the newspaper. However, the line has not yet been completed and until it is finished, the State of North Carolina will be footing the bill for the water trucks. Other towns in the area are also looking at water solutions including the Town of Summerfield, which recently had a presentation on the need for water to fight fires instead of hauling water in by tanker. ::
SUMMERFIELD – People who live in the Town of Summerfield who love big government and having others tell you what you can do with your property or how it should look will be very happy with some proposed new ordinances. After an initial public hearing that was held at the Zoning Board meeting at the end of January, a second and final public hearing will be held at the Summerfield Town Council meeting on Tuesday, January 11th at 6:30pm. The council will vote on the ordinances at that time. It should be noted that in keeping with Summerfield’s so-called “open and transparent” government, the media was not notified of the first public hearing and there was only one person at the initial public hearing who wasn’t on the zoning board or didn’t work for the town. Don Wendelken of the website SummerfieldNews.com said he was that sole member of the public at the Zoning Board meeting and sent The Star its first copy of the ordinances. The proposed “nuisance law” ordinances will potentially regulate everything from use of fireplaces and barbecue grills to what kind of furniture you can use on your deck to use of boxes or appliances in your carport or garage. In addition, it will potentially regulate the use of spray paint, collection of firewood or leaves, construction materials, animal smells, and more. The six pages for the ordinance are seemingly so sweeping and vague that it probably would be an easy task to find a violation at any home in the area if a code enforcer looked hard enough. Ironically, although many in Summerfield wished to incorporate years ago to create a town to avoid being swallowed up by Greensboro, the proposed ordinances are much more encompassing and restrictive than those seen in the City of Greensboro, which has a fraction of the nuisance law rules compared to those proposed for the rural Town of Summerfield. According to town officials, the proposed rules were written by Nfocus, a private company that is located in Kannapolis, North Carolina. It should also be noted that Nfocus is being paid by the Town of Summerfield to write the rules and it is also will be paid by the hour to enforce them. According to one newspaper, the firm is paid around $56 an hour to enforce the rules, meaning that if there are lots of them to enforce, it could mean more money in the long run for the private company. In a previous interview with this newspaper, Summerfield Town Manager Scott Whitaker said that there is no conflict of interest using Nfocus even though they are being paid to both write the rules and to enforce them, because the town has “separate contracts” for those two duties with the firm. However, it is worth repeating to once again state that although there might be separate contracts, one company certainly stands to benefit if there are more rules to enforce.
WHAT THE RULES SAY The Star newspaper attempted to get Summerfield Town Attorney William Hill and Nfocus to comment on how these new rules might be enforced but did not receive any elaboration on how closely the town will follow the letter of the law if they are passed or how strictly they might be followed. Mr. Hill said he had been in a series of meetings and Nfocus’ founder confirmed in an email that they were under contract with Summerfield but that the person we needed to talk to was attending to a family matter. As such, The Star is attempting to report on these rules as they could be enforced as opposed to how they might be enforced, as there is no clarification from the town on the level of enforcement they will follow. Some town officials may try to claim that this newspaper is overstating the issue, so we are quoting the proposed statutes which they are actually voting on so as to inform the public on what the proposed ordinances actually say. FIREPLACES, SMOKE, AND FARM SMELLS If your neighbor or other anonymous complaint filer (the town has a website page where anonymous complaints can be filed), doesn’t like the smoke from your fireplace, outdoor firepit, or barbecue grill, then your property could be declared a public nuisance. “Any conditions or use of property, which results in the emission of pollutants and particles into the atmosphere or causes noxious odors, vapors and stenches to be discharged into the air,” can be declared a public nuisance, says section #19 of the ordinance. A town official also told The Star that this would also apply to using spray paint in your garage if some of the airborne paint was noticed next door. Farm owners may also want to note that this section of the ordinance could also potentially apply to smells or odors from farm animals or farm animal waste being detected next door. Continued on Page 4...
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