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Laurels to the goal of keeping local teachers’ supplements up with the state average. A committee of the Rowan-Salisbury School Board has included bigger supplements in a preliminary budget for 2001-2002.
That, plus a $500 signing bonus for teachers who come to work here, would go a long way toward making Rowan competitive in today’s tight teacher market.
The economy may have slowed down, but that has done nothing to lower the goal of recruiting and keeping the best teachers Rowan can find.
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Dart to fears that doom may lie ahead for Rep. Eugene McCombs’ bill to make private venues pay for Highway Patrol help.
House Bill 455 orders private organizations to reimburse the state for half the costs of traffic control. McCombs had in mind such events as NASCAR races and other big sports events.
This bill should prevail. There’s no reason for state taxpayers to provide free traffic control for events that make big money for private interests — particularly at a time when the state is strapped for cash.
McCombs may look like a scrawny David, going up against Goliath-like NASCAR. But reason is on his side. Let’s hope some powerful members of the House Finance Committee are, too.
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Laurels to the state Senate for taking a strong stand against “litter on a stick” — the proliferation of billboards around North Carolina. The chamber voted to ban billboards along Interstate 40, one of North Carolina’s most heavily traveled highways. The legislation would make permanent a moratorium on billboards along the highway from Orange County east, and would go further by also banning them along western stretches.
An executive with the N.C. Advertising Association warned that the ban, if successful, would lead to new proposals next year for other highways — or an outright ban on outdoor advertising. Nobody wants to go that far — and it’s sure not likely to happen in Rowan — but reducing roadside clutter is a worthwhile goal. North Carolina’s interstates still have some beautiful views. It’s a shame when you can’t see the trees for a forest of signs.
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Dart to the theft of Arie Swinson’s mo-ped, which gave the Rockwell man the wheels to go where his 82-year-old legs can no longer take him. You don’t have to be an octogenarian to appreciate how important freedom is — the freedom to visit family, to attend church, to run errands for yourself— or to lament its loss in such a callous fashion. If there’s an uplifting note to this story, it’s the remarkable generosity of those who learned of his bad luck and have made contributions to help get him back on the road again.
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