may 23, 2013
• yANCEY cOUNTY nEWS 3
Barbara Tipton one of two new principals in Yancey The Yancey County Board of Education has approved hiring former superintendent Dr. Barbara Tipton - wife of current superintendent Dr. Tony Tipton - as principal of Burnsville Elementary School. The board also selected Miranda Elkins, current assistant principal at Cane River Middle School, as principal for South Toe Elementary School, replacing Doris Deyton, who is retiring at the end of this school term. According to a press release issued by Yancey County Schools,
Elkins has served as math teacher, coach, athletic director and assistant principal. “Ms. Elkins brings many years of experience to her new position,” Dr. Tony Tipton said. Elkins said she believes “that a family atmosphere is of the utmost importance to success in education - a lesson I have learned from my short tenure at Bee Log Elementary and my many years at Cane River Middle.” The board approved Burnsville Elementary Principal Shane Cassida as K12 Curriculum /
Home Base Director. Board Chairman Mike Orr said the board sought applicants to replace Cassida and “they chose the best candidate” in selecting Dr. Barbara Tipton, a former Yancey Schools superintendent and wife of the current superintendent. “She has proven herself in Yancey and Madison as an administrator, She applied for the job and was the best candidate, he said. Orr, a retired teacher himself, said he has no qualms about the hiring. “She lives here, began her
career here and wants to end her career here,” he said. Dr. Barbara Tipton spent six years as assistant principal at Burnsville Elementary, four years as principal at Cane River Middle, two years as superintendent and the last six years as principal at Madison Middle School. Orr said the board is moving forward progressively and “is confident in the leadership that is in place ... countywide.” Dr. Barbara Tipton said she was pleased to return to Yancey Schools.
Commissioners, others in region urge funding for clean water By Kirk Ross Carolina Public Press As the state Senate prepared to unveil its budget proposal, conservation groups in Western North Carolina were keen to see what the spending plan might hold for a key state trust fund that’s fueled investment in water quality projects and watershed protection throughout WNC. The Clean Water Management Trust Fund, which since its inception in 1996 has distributed more than $200 million in grants in the region and more than $977 million statewide, has seen its funding fall by nearly 90 percent in the past two budget cycles and faces an even deeper cut this year. Gov. Pat McCrory’s budget proposal, released in March, included $6,750,000 this year for the fund, by far the lowest amount in its history. The CWMTF, along with other trust funds for state parks and recreation and the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, all saw record low funding proposed. Meanwhile, WNC supporters of clean water efforts say that short-changing a program that’s been a boost to the region’s economy is the wrong move. At their regular monthly meeting, the Yancey County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution voicing support for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, and urged the governor and legislature to increase funding in the current budget. The commission also approved resolutions supporting the state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and urged maintaining appropriatons for the North Carolina Rural Center. Commission Chairman Johnny Riddle voiced support for all three resolutions as legislators and the governor move to cut the three budgets. He said the resolutions were important “even though they might fall on deaf ears” in Raleigh. Others in the region feel budget items like the Clean Water Waste Management Trust Fund are important as well. “To me, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund is the best economic development tool we have in WNC and in the state,” said Karen Cragnolin, executive director of Ashevillebased RiverLink, a nonprofit that works as a watchdog for the French Broad River. Cragnolin, who has been a board member of the fund since its inception, said the arrival of craft breweries in the mountains of WNC is one obvious way to make the case that the push for clean water the fund has helped finance over the years has provided results. With the support of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, work is underway to restore this stream near the New Belgium Brewing site in West Asheville. Since its inception, the fund has distributed more than
$200 million in grants for projects in the 18 westernmost counties of the state. Colby Rabon/Carolina Public Press The fund, she said, has played a critical role during the transition in the region’s economy from manufacturing to tourism and recreation by helping to restore streams and watersheds, cleaning up brownfields near the French Broad and conserving prime lands like DuPont State Forest. “We know the health of our economy depends on the health of the environment,” Cragnolin said. When it was founded, the CWMFT was designed to review, rank and distribute grants to projects statewide for watershed protection and conservation, storm water and wastewater improvements and stream and wetlands restoration. The annual spending target for the fund was $100 million but averaged only half that, except during a stretch of years from 2005 to 2008 when it was fully funded. Like many of the state’s trust funds, in the slow recovery from the recent recession, the fund’s appropriation has been a source of money to offset budget shortfalls elsewhere. In her last two years in office, Gov. Bev Perdue proposed a significant drop in money for the fund. The GOP leadership in the House and Senate cut it even deeper, taking the annual appropriation down to $11.25 million per year — then not only the lowest in its history, but a mere one-third of the amount of the previous low. The legislature also added restrictions on how the money could be used, putting an emphasis on buffers around military bases in the eastern part of the state, but those restrictions were later dropped. A look at the types of grants distributed in WNC over the years closely follows the region’s topography. At the headwaters of the region’s rivers, in places like Avery County, CWMTF grants have been used mainly for land acquisition and conservation easements. Downstream, grants have been used to restore stream banks and help local governments better manage storm water and wastewater. In most cases, the grants have leveraged funding from state and local government sources as well as conservation groups and advocates. Carl Silverstein, executive director of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, said he’s worried that the fund’s budget struggles could discourage private landowners who are interested in conservation projects. “I’m afraid there could be a chilling effect for private contribution and investment if the agency isn’t seen as viable,” he said. The CWMTF, he said, has helped finance extensive headwater protections in WNC. Last year, the conservancy received a
$600,000 CWMTF grant to help it purchase the 601-acre Grassy Ridge Tract, in the Roan Highlands. The fund’s contribution augmented funds from a coalition of organizations and individuals for the $2.7 million purchase, which includes the headwaters of Roaring Creek, a wild trout stream that flows into the North Toe River watershed. “It is just a chart-topping property,” Silverstein said. “It’s been on our list of highest priorities for 40 years.” Silverstein said it’s a bad time to back away from land acquisition and conservation projects. “We still see real estate values in the low range,” he said. “It’s a good time to be investing in protecting water sources.” There is a big potential to protect headwaters in WNC, a move that later proves cost effective, he added. “When the headwaters have siltation and pollution, it impacts every part of the system downstream.” Jay Leutze, a trustee with Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, agreed on the need to keep watershed protection moving forward. He said that positive change in the North Toe River watershed is a testament to the effectiveness of the fund in boosting voluntary ways to protect water quality. “When I was a kid, mountain people would not eat fish out of the North Toe,” he said. “Since 1996 we’ve seen a steady improvement in water quality. More areas are fishable and swimmable. People are coming here to go fishing and paddling.” As critical as cleaning up rivers and land acquisition has been in the highlands, it’s important, he said, to remember that the water quickly leaves Avery County. “Everybody’s drinking water from up here,” he said. The impact of lower funding is already taking its toll, especially downstream. To spread around its dwindling resources, the fund capped grants for wastewater projects at $600,000. As a result, applications from local governments with wastewater and storm water projects have fallen. Richard Rogers, executive director of the CWMTF, said the types of connection projects that local governments sought grants for in the past often come with multimillion-dollar price tags. They also aren’t easy to divide into phases. “It’s not enough to lay the pipe halfway to the wastewater treatment plant,” he said. Rogers said the low level of funding has made it difficult to pursue larger projects, and it’s also had an effect on expectations. When McCrory’s budget was released in February, it included an appropriation for the fund for only the first year of the biennial budget. At the time, state budget director Art Pope said the lack of a second year budget amount does not imply the program will be ended, just that a figure had yet to be set.