Living history Moores Creek National Battlefield celebrated the 239th anniversary of the historic event last weekend. See photos on page 4C.
Volume 44, No.22
POST Voice The Pender-Topsail
&
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Building needs help American Legion Post 165 in Burgaw needs help with renovations to their historic building. Read more on page 1C.
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Snow, ice closes schools, offices across region
Late winter storm dusts Pender County By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher With just a few weeks remaining in winter, snow and ice fell across Pender County early Tuesday morning, causing schools to close and numerous traffic accidents.
As typical with many winter storms, the amount of snow varied across the county, from a light dusting along the coastal areas to as much as three inches in western and northern areas of the county. Burgaw saw about two inches of snow fall before the precipitation
turned to sleet and then freezing rain as Tuesday progressed. Pender County Emergency Management Director Tom Collins said a number of traffic accidents occurred on Interstate 40 early Tuesday. “The biggest thing is people just don’t know how to slow down,”
Collins said. “There were multiple wrecks on I-40 this morning. The guardrails were catching a lot of cars.” Collins said overall there were “fewer than normal wrecks” for this type of winter weather. Collins says officials are eyeing
another weather system that is due in the area Thursday that could bring another round of winter weather to Pender County. “We could see this again Thursday. It just depends on where the freeze line is,” Collins said.
Wintertime in Pender County Tourism director fired by county Monique Baker says she was “blindsided” by the dismissal By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher Pender County tourism director Monique Baker was released from her job with the county Friday, according to Pender County Commission Chairman David Williams. Williams says the announcement would normally come through the county manager’s office, but since Randell Woodruff is new on the job, he was making the announcement. Baker’s dismissal was discussed by commissioners in closed session at last week’s board meeting. “I have had conversations with the members of the board and based on my findings and discussions with the members individually. The manager was instructed to handle the situation along with county human
From rural western Pender County along the Black River, to Hampstead and the beach communities in the east, winter weather visited Pender County Tuesday. A light dusting of snow fell in the east, with up to three inches falling in western areas of the county.
By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher
School board approves construction schedule Officials say they can handle multiple projects The Pender County Board of Education approved the initial project plan and schedule for the bond construction at a special meeting last week. The plan includes estimates of the schedule of funds that will be drawn down for the projects. The figures are estimates since the final bids are not in on all the projects. “Typically we put every project on a time line and all the funds associated with the projects on the same time line and stretch it out for the time we think it will take to run these projects, trying to run most of them parallel,” said
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Rouzer holds meeting with county, town officials
Staff photos by Andy Pettigrew and James Bradshaw
By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher
resources and the attorney,” Williams said. “The manager is new, and I generally stay away from personnel issues, but this is one that we as a board instructed him to carry out. The commissioners felt it was time to make a change.” Baker was hired as tourism director in February, 2009 after working with the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington. In an interview with the Post & Voice, Baker said her dismissal was a complete surprise. After meeting with the county manager and human resources director Tuesday and Wednesday, “I knew by Friday that it didn’t really matter what I said or did. They had already decided,” she said.
School Board Member Tom Roper. “It’s really starting to come together as far as what will happen with the time lines and what will be the county’s approximate draws for substantial completion on these projects.” Roper says this process is not a reaction from the commissioner’s meeting. It is something the board would normally do with construction projects. “Timing wise, we didn’t have this information ready for the commissioners during the last meeting,” Roper said. “We didn’t have all the information from the architects because we were not completely under contract
with them at the time. It’s a work in progress.” As the projects are bid, the information is worked into the
time line. “At any given time we
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Freshman 7th district Representative David Rouzer met with Pender County Commissioners and representatives from Topsail Beach Feb. 19 in Hampstead. The 90-minute meeting was held at the Hampstead Pender County Government Annex. Rouzer answered questions from Topsail Beach officials regarding the town’s beach renourishment projects. Topsail Beach mayor Howard Braxton asked for help with the U.S. Corps of Engi-
neers in obtaining permission to use sand taken from the Intracoastal Waterway instead of off shore. Braxton said the use of ICWW sand would save the town about 40 percent in costs. Commission Chair man David Williams talked with Rouzer about the U.S. Hwy. 17 bypass project. Although the bypass is a state project, Rouzer pledged to do what he could to move the project along by working with N.C. Secretary of Transportation Tony Tata, and State Senator
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Staff photo by Andy Pettigrew
Rep. David Rouzer (above left) met with county residents and officials last week, including Topsail Beach Mayor Howard Braxton, Topsail Beach councilman Jullian Bone, county Republican Party Chairman Bob Muller, and county commissioners George Brown and Fred McCoy.
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