BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

A lottery, dirt roads, schools, health care, retirement, farming, mental illness, motorcycle helmets — the state issues concerning Rowan County seem to touch every facet of daily life.

Citizens ignored a wet, chilly Thursday night to fill the Rowan County Board of Commissioners’ meeting room in Salisbury and address state legislators on their wide-ranging set of topics.

More than 25 people walked to the speakers’ table, and several gave impassioned pleas for their causes. James Mathis, a retired principal, spoke strongly against a lottery.

Kay Norman, a member of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education, outlined the schools’ facilities needs. State employees and local law enforcement personnel made their case to reduce the retirement age in their jobs.

Myra Martin, a single mother, described the tough economic times in Rowan County and how difficult it is for some people to make choices between things as basic as health care insurance or food on the table.

Betsy Detty and Betty Gregory warned legislators of a state mental health system that’s underfunded and not working — one that would be hurt deeply by the closing of state mental hospitals and proposed budget cuts.

For more than two hours, the legislators — Reps. Eugene McCombs and Lorene Coates and Sens. Stan Bingham and Cal Cunningham — listened and took notes, sometimes commenting on the status of bills in committee or asking the speakers to meet with them after the forum to discuss their individual concerns.

County commissioners hosted the event, prompted mostly by Coates and well publicized in the newspaper and on radio.

Chairman Steve Blount served as moderator for the open forum, where anyone was invited to speak. Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, sent his regrets for not attending with Bingham, who said Hartsell had two previous speaking engagements Thursday.

Mathis, a public school principal for 28 years, said a lottery preys on the poor and would return only one-third of the money people spend on tickets to the state’s coffers. He questioned whether the legislative proposal for a statewide referendum on the question is constitutional.

“I oppose a lottery,” Mathis said, noting that he wrote personal letters last year to the governor and every member of the General Assembly. “I don’t want my state in the gambling business. ... Let’s get our tax money in an honorable way.”

Tom Wetherell, head of a neighborhood association of 51 homes near High Rock Lake, asked legislators to consider moving money allocated for new road construction into a maintenance fund for gravel roads such as the one in his development. He noted that it wasn’t until 1994 that Rowan County required developers to build streets to state standards.

Many of the people in his development, Wetherell said, have low incomes and together the neighborhood cannot afford to pave their road. Rowan County, Wetherell added, has 200 miles of gravel roads.

Rowan County is participating in a state pilot program aimed at bringing dirt roads up to a condition where emergency and other public vehicles, such as school buses, can use them. Officials chose Rowan for one of the pilot programs because it has about 45 miles of unpaved roads that are not in the state system.

A resident of Corriher Meadows, where 33 families live, noted that only about $90,000 is available to Rowan under the pilot program. In her subdivision with dirt roads, the woman said, emergency vehicles have trouble navigating the area, and the post office has threatened not to deliver mail because of poor roads.

Martin, the single mother of a 14-year-old daughter, said parents such as her are often caught “between a rock and a hard place” in making too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private health care insurance.

She said her daughter was reluctant to tell her about a toothache recently because she was worried about the cost of getting the tooth fixed. In general, Martin spoke of how the economy in Rowan County has led to many layoffs, plant closings, reductions in wages and loss of health care insurance for people who now face serious choices in taking care of their families.

Here were some other topics discussed Thursday night:

• Chief Deputy Steve Schenk of the Rowan Sheriff’s Department urged legislators to support House Bill 510, to lower the years of service needed to retire in law enforcement from 30 to 25 years. Virginia allows officers to retire after 20 years; South Carolina, 25 years.

Schenk noted that the average life expectancy for law enforcement officers is 59 years, or 14 years shorter than the general population.

McCombs said changing the retirement age would cost the state $257 million; and municipalities, $45 million.

• The Rev. Chris Williams asked legislators to support House Bill 107, a motorcycle safety measure whose provisions would allow bikers 21 and older to decide whether or not to wear a helmet. Williams said that “as a country boy,” his biggest fear on a motorcycle is confronting wildlife and the split second he has to react to that danger in the road.

A helmet blocks peripheral vision — a blind spot could cost him his life, Williams said.

• Frank Thomason, 911 director for Rowan County, asked legislators to oppose bills already introduced that would change the law governing the Emergency Telephone System Fund established 10 years ago to support county 911 services. The measures proposed would allow funds to be spent on things other than 911 service, Thomason warned.
• Describing his difficulties with Duke Power, CP&L and Piedmont Natural Gas, Charlie Walker asked legislators to address the condemnation rights of utility companies. He suggested that the companies be made to pay a landowner’s attorney fees in a condemnation.

If the companies lie or misrepresent themselves to a landowner, they should be made to pay three times the condemnation price to a landowner, Walker suggested. Utilities also should be forced to use rights of way they already have in place rather than being allowed to create new rights of way at a property owner’s expense, Walker said.

• Jana Annas, a retired teacher, told legislators that better discipline in the schools, not more testing and funding, would improve education in North Carolina. “Money is not the answer, folks,” Annas said.

Annas said she was against passing on students who are not ready to advance to the next grade. She also expressed concern about potential funds from an additional sales tax for school construction going to needs other than schools.

• Jill McNeely, a registered nurse, told legislators of her concerns with coverage guidelines for elderly, disabled adults under the Community Alternatives Program, a federally waivered, state-mandated program. Bingham said the Department of Aging has a study under way to look at some of the inequities described by the nurse.
• Representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Commission and National Federation of Independent Business made pitches for some of their issues.

Randy Harrell, executive director of the Development Commission, urged legislators to provide the funding local commissions need to recruit and expand industries. He also asked for support of community college’s work-force training.

The Development Commission and Chamber support an additional 1-cent sales tax for school construction. The Chamber legislative agenda also opposes mandated health benefits and ergonomic standards, designed to address work conditions that might cause health problems, such as repetitive motion syndrome. It supports term limits, campaign finance reform, electric utility deregulation, a lottery referendum and a revised formula for the way roads are repaired in the state.

• Jerry Shelby said the state needs a victim’s bill of rights for people such as he. In the past 15 years, Shelby said, he has been the victim in two dog attacks and one car accident. Though he wasn’t the guilty party in any incident, he ended up paying the bills involved each time, Shelby said.
• South Rowan farmer Darryl Corriher asked legislators to support Sen. Fountain Odom’s proposed legislation to dedicate $70 million a year toward farmland and open space preservation in North Carolina. The state money, combined with local funding to purchase development rights on farms, could save the farming industry in Rowan County, Corriher said.

“If nothing is done, there’s a distinct possibility that farming will go by the wayside in the future,” Corriher said.

Other topics presented included child advocacy in the Department of Social Services, Smart Start funding for pre-school children, substance abuse funding for youth, dental problems among Rowan County’s low-income children and Health Link, a partnership for children between the Health Department and Adolescent and Family Enrichment Council.