On this date in 1872, America’s third female law student was graduated. But this third was a first. Charlotte Ray was a freeborn African-American, and the first black woman to graduate law school. With her degree from historically black Howard University, she shortly began her law practice in Washington, D.C., and was the first woman accredited to argue a case before the Supreme Court. When Charlotte Ray graduated, only some 8,500 college and professional degrees were awarded in the U.S. Today, among the 24 million African-Americans over 25 years old, some 6.8 million have bachelor’s degrees, and some 3.7 million more hold advanced degrees, including almost 400,000 doctorates. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.
Saturday, February 28th. Although February is the calendar’s shortest month, it looms large in America’s history of railroad development. In 1815, the first state charter for a railroad was issued by New Jersey for a never-completed line between Trenton and New Brunswick. On this date in 1827, the famed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was chartered to carry passengers and freight. And February 1830 saw the first charter for an interstate railroad to serve Virginia and North Carolina. The peak year for the number of railroads was 1907, with over 1,500 lines in operation, and the greatest extent of track mileage came in 1930 at nearly 430,000 miles. While the iron horse is no longer so singularly vital to transportation, nearly $16 billion worth of rolling stock are manufactured annually. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.
Henderson made CBS national news last night not for a killing but for a roof cave in
Elmwood….you have to start somewhere! So how’s the “NEW DIRECTION” working for your city? They’ve been in office long enough to have at least made an impact, whether good or bad. How do the voters of Henderson & Vance Co. con’t to elect these self proclaimed “know-it-alls”? Anyone who follows local politics can see that the vast majority of those elected have hidden agendas or are simply on personal ego trips!! 1 Co. Commissioner was on the Tax Deadbeat List for numerous years & when questioned about failing to do his Civic Duty(pay his taxes) he would blow up like a bullfrog. That I witnessed 1st hand.
Is that the best Henderson/Vance has to offer?
Deception,what is New Direction ?
our great leader will now help the internet by controlling what people like deception says about all her lies we will help give citizenship to our mexican brothers because the republican congress doesnt act we will get a minimum wage increase because we deserve it the rich republicans control all the money but our great leader will make sure to make them pay their fair share by the way my obamaphone is going to be switched to an android because i am tired of not having equal access as the rich people i got 15000 back in earned income credit and believe me i earned it we are the backbone of this country and our great leader is looking out for us
you whites stole this country from the indians stole the west from the mexicans that you claim are illegal and used our sweat and enslaved us to build this country you owe us reparations as well as the mexicans you will pay soon
Funny letter to the Editor in today’s Daily Dispatch from a Claiborne Woods in reference to the interim city manager of Henderson’s decision to allow “non-essential” employees to come in 2 hrs. late. Mr. Woods came to the conclusion that since they were “non-essential” employees they were probably on the lower end of the pay scale and thus probably couldn’t afford SUV’s or 4-Wheel Drive vehicles. Seriously?
Who in the city or county government is “essential” other than Police and/or Fire/EMS? Certainly not the paper pushers at city hall. His letter went on to say that Mr. Wyatt(interim city manager) should get some type of recognition for the decision to allow the “non-essential” workers to come in late!!! Do you understand how STUPID this sounds? It was a backhanded slap in the face to sanitation workers and the like b/c evidently since they aren’t as “IMPORTANT” as the essential employees they can’t afford SUV’s or 4-Wheel Drive vehicles!!! SMH………no wonder Henderson/Vance is often referred to as the “arm pit” of the Tri-County area!!!!
A wise person once said that “it is better to be thought a FOOL than to open one’s mouth & remove all doubt”…….the same could be said about writing Letters to the Editor!!!
Elmwood………ask any of your current city council members who/what is “New Direction”. I’m sure they can explain it better than I can. Be prepared for an odd look from whomever you decide to ask the question to b/c they probably wouldn’t expect to be asked that question.
Arm pit this Decept.
Publius…..easy cowboy!!!! In Latin the man named Publius was a HERO who saved Rome. Why can’t you “save” your city/county? Well…..maybe you have in your own special way? I mean who doesn’t want to live in an area with high unemployment, more rental properties than a Monopoly game, & don’t forget that high crime rate!
You have been successful w/teen pregnancy b/c y’all were #1 in the state for awhile. Also, your city/county does have a nice big ole Courthouse. Too bad very little Justice gets served there. Lastly, maybe you need a “new” kind of deodorant!!! Rest well & don’t forget to lock your goat pen. I wouldn’t want them wandering around your neighborhood.
The city could afford to give everyone a pay raise if they would collect even just one year of the back taxes that are owed to the city. North Carolina law says that a local government can not collect after the tax bill has been ten years delinquent, so how about going after the last couple of years!?
yes, JTF, but that would be foolhardy, because you would be giving raises, a recurring expense, with one time money. However, if you are guaranteed that those funds would be paid every year…sorry, I was dreaming again.
The problem ,as you have just seen, is that property taxes and sales taxes are really a poor foundation for local government general fund(s). When the economy tanks, people have a hard time paying their taxes, and they spend less ( sales taxes down). Cities have always depended to a great extent on growth ( new jobs, new companies, small business growth, people moving to a community) and even annexation of areas surrounding a city. Henderson is not growing ( nor is Vance County) and annexation has just about been killed by this new legislature ( except for voluntary annexation).
The City of Henderson will have to do one of two ( or both) things to give staff the second phase of the proposed raises, 1. raise taxes, or 2. hit the fund balance, which isn’t very wise ( see first paragraph about using one time $$ for recurring expenses). Without growth, this will be the biggest issue for the City for many moons to come.
and, since the City is starting this budget year without the privilege tax ( just killed by the legislature) and no replacement for it ( about a $240,000) hit for Henderson, plus now owing Maria Parham back some taxes, about 3 or 4 years worth ( another $100,000), with approx. $35,000 less from them each year hereafter, plus the phase in of raises ( this will hit water and sewer rates for those employees), plus another $200,000 from the general fund for all others, and this budget year looks like one for the record books ( a bad record, not a good one).
Can’t wait to see what property valuations look like in next budget year, that might create the perfect storm! As you can see, I’ve been doing my homework.
but there is good news, “I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to …….! ” :)
You are all forgetting the $1,800,000 which was loaned to the Embassy Foundation about 15 years ago. I know absolutely, positively that this was a loan which was to be repaid to the city in dollars plus the building free of debt. None of the members of the current council want to discuss this matter. The late Bill Fleming, a host on Town Talk, frequently calculated what the debt would be at 5% annually. I think it was well over $3,000,000 about 3 years ago.
RR…..My granny said that Mr. Fleming was one of the nicest & honest men she ever met. She spoke highly of his time as county commisioner & often said if all the current elected officials were more like Mr. Fleming the city/county wouldn’t be full of empty storefronts & dilapidated houses. You have too many on boards now w/personal agendas & many of them lack a valuable tool……COMMON SENSE!!!!!