COMMUNITY 3-4 | OUR COLUMNISTS 7-8 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS 9
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VOL. 6, NO. 47
NOVEMBER 19, 2011
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Honoring those who served By Cindy Taylor
Happy Thanksgiving Friends and neighbors give thanks See pages 4-5
Amazing Grace Celebrating 103 years See page 6
Bomb scare! Courthouse reacts See Cindy’s story on page 3
FEATURED COLUMNIST BONNIE PETERS
The Moyers family of Claiborne and Union counties See page 7
Another Veterans Day has come and gone, but the students at Union County High School did not let it pass unnoticed. On Nov. 11, breakfast was provided at the school, followed by a ceremony and program to honor those who have served and are serving our country. The program was presented by students at the school, and music was provided by the high school chorus. American Legion Post 212 and Tri-County Honor Guard presented the colors. Besides being a great opportunity to say thank you to those veterans who attended, it was also a humbling experience to sit with some of these men and women and hear their stories. World War II Navy and later Army veteran Jack Myers witnessed the first overseas atomic bomb test on an island in the South Pacific while he was stationed abroad. “I got out of the cradle and went right to the military,” Myers said jokingly. He was drafted in 1944 at the age of 18 and served in Korea as well. Myers was on a landing ship, tank (LST) during WWII. These were navy vessels created during that war to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles, cargo and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore, hopefully undetected. Myers also spent three years in the occupation of Japan as a military policeman (MP) whose job was to make certain there was no fraternizing with the enemy. According to the 85-yearold, befriending anyone who was Japanese was off limits to Americans. At one time, Myers was also a Seabee. Army veteran John Stefanski fought in the Korean War and spent months in the “Punch Bowl” with only machine guns and rifles for munitions. All heavy artillery is removed from demilitarized zones. “Mostly, I just survived,” said Stefanski. “I was in the demilitarized
Union County High School student Amber Beavers, one of the student flag bearers for the Veterans Day program, stands with her great-aunt, veteran Sharon Collins. Photos by C. Taylor
Veteran Jim Collins pins an American flag on Carolyn Chesney.
zone, and my job was to keep the enemy from crossing over. We lived in the trenches and rarely slept. All you do is guard, walk the lines and go on patrol. The latrine was beyond the rim, and we had one guy who had a shell land right between his legs when he went to the privy. Fortunately, it was a dead shell. Still, they had to take him away and
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we never saw him again.” “They didn’t fight, best I remember, when Moses brought the people out of Egypt,” said Korean veteran Wayne Smith, tongue in cheek. “Actually, I did shoot more than 200 people in one day.” Smith was an Army medic stationed in Germany and was referring to injections. As a medic, Smith also
used much of his time and training in overseas hospitals delivering American babies. Countless entertaining hours could be spent listening to these men and women share their stories. As Americans, we should remember our veterans and be thankful for them daily, not just on one day each year.
School board budget still on the table By Cindy Taylor
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Mayor Mike Williams opened the County Commission meeting Nov. 14 by sharing information about the bomb threat that had taken place earlier that day. “Many people have heard that our courthouse received a bomb threat this morning,” said Williams. “You cannot take anything lightly, so we did evacuate. This took two hours of our time and put a lot of people at risk. Our law enforcement and medical people did an excellent job, and they are to be commended for that.” Anthony Malone spoke as a representative of teachers in to request help with teacher insurance. “In the school board’s attempt to balance the budget, there was a huge percentage of insurance premiums set to come out of teacher pay,” said Malone. “What many commissioners don’t know is that some teachers were already paying more than $500 a month. We have a number of teachers who have dropped their insurance altogether because of the increase in rates. I am here to beg the County Commission not to burden the teachers any further. Your teachers are hurting on this. We would appreciate any help you are willing to give.”
Teacher Anthony Malone speaks with Mayor Mike Williams prior to the Commission meeting. Photos by C. Taylor Newly appointed Interim Director of Schools Marilyn Toppins was kept at the podium for a great deal of the meeting. Toppins had numerous figures to report to the commission, and many commissioners had questions for her. “I have spent much of my time since taking this position reviewing budget dollars,” said Toppins. “Some of the drastic cuts we took could possibly be reversed by the year end. Any additional dollars we find we hope to put toward teacher
insurance. I am living meeting to meeting, and there is a possibility that come Nov. 21 I will be back teaching at the middle school.” The commission is reviewing employee insurance for county employees, and it looks as though money might be saved on that end. Commissioner Doyle Welch asked if the money saved could go to help the teacher insurance. Road Superintendent Clayton Helms said that any money saved desperately needed to go toward roads and Toppins agreed.
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Commissioner Jeff Brantley thanked Toppins for breaking down the money spent by the school system so commissioners were aware of exactly where the money was going. He also questioned who would replace Glenn Coppock while he is on sick leave until November 2012. “We have seven financial people in accounting, and we have met and agreed to cross train the staff to fill in for Mr. Coppock,” said Toppins. Brantley also asked about the audit currently being run at the school system central office. Williams said that the audit will most likely take a total of two weeks at a cost to the county of $7,000 to $9,000. This money will be paid out of the undesignated fund balance. Discussion was held on whether the county should bring in one financial officer to oversee all aspects of the county budget including that of the school board. The commission will continue to look into that possibility. The commission passed a resolution stating that Union County is opposed to the establishment of any pain clinics in the county. This can be done, but enforcement must come from the state.
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