Betsy Kane, City Council member, City of Washington, N.C.

City of Washington residents are invited to take the Resilient Coastal Communities survey. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNnQuGBIidaN53kqv776NJD30cBswMm5rGVIgzGwU3oC-DTw/viewform

A quick word about yard signs. I’ll be collecting my campaign signs today from public locations. If you have your own yard sign, feel free to keep it as a souvenir, or you can toss. The plastic part can be used to suppress weeds, as a spray-painting background, or to make various useful items such as backboard for crafts and package inserts (it’s coroplast). Use the wire stand for garden plant supports (just use pliers to bend down the sharp parts so no one gets hurt!). Or just dispose with your trash.

After today if you see a yard sign in any public location that I may have missed, feel free to dispose of it (much appreciated) or you can let me know the location and I will go get it. Thanks to each of you who hosted my yard signs! (or boat sign or flower-box sign -- you were very creative ;*)

Today (Tuesday, November 2) is Election Day! Cast your vote for Washington’s future.
I sincerely hope I have EARNED your vote!

LAST DAY to EARLY VOTE. You can register and early vote today, Saturday October 30, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Board of Elections.
Located at 1308 Highland Dr. in Washington (behind Vidant Hospital, off Cowell Farm Rd)

Please note -- After Saturday 3 pm, early voting ENDS, and you must vote only at your regular polling place on Election Day, Tuesday November 2. You cannot register to vote nor update your registration on Election Day -- IF you need to register, you must vote by Saturday at 3 pm.

Check your registration, see your polling place, look at the ballot here:

Voter Search Search for voter details, including jurisdictions, polling place, sample ballot when available, absentee ballot information, and voter history.

Just got here? Want to know the basics?
Here's who I am, and what I stand for.

Who I'm Voting For

Who will handle the issues that are ahead for our city?

This year there is such a lack of information about candidates. I haven't heard of a single public candidate forum.
The paper doesn't appear to be putting an election special together.
People ask me who to consider voting for, saying that
it's hard to learn about the candidates. Some have asked who I recommend.

Because you have asked -- Here are the candidates I'm choosing. I chose these because they have vision; are receptive to public input; have skills and perspectives matched to the core issues facing our city; and are trustworthy.

First, it's essential that we re-elect VIRGINIA FINNERTY. Virginia is experienced, knowledgeable, responsive, and smart.
She has proven herself over and over to be quickly insightful on the issues. It has been a pleasure to serve on Council
with her during the last two years. Virginia and I worked hard on many issues together, including finding ways to get more
access to the river for the public, taming traffic in neighborhoods, and quality of life improvements. Virginia is focused
on the needs of the entire city. Before I ever considered running for office, I often reached out to city council members, and
she was one of two councilors who always responded.

The other person who always responded is ROLAND WYMAN. Roland is also essential to forming a functional, dynamic city council.
Roland provided absolutely essential help on the 15th Street planning project, which he kept the NCDOT funding alive for, so that Washington did not lose its place in line for this transportation improvement project. He also assisted in helping get the strategic plan for the airport on track to make sure this facility can be financially stable over the long term.
Among his many strengths, Roland is very hard-working and active in community groups. He previously served on City Council from 2017-2019. The random tiebreaker vote in the 2019 election is the only reason he is not on Council now. Every single
day of my term, I have regretted that he was not seated. His vision, dedication, and responsiveness is missed on the board.
Even so, as a "regular person" he continued working on essential
issues to our city, which shows how active and helpful he is.

Roland has managed large budgets and international supply chains for factory production. He has a strong mind for overseeing strategic goal-setting. We are lacking in these skills on Council at present. Our city desperately needs someone who is ready to establish strong written policies, rather than governing by personality. One of the things Roland would like to accomplish is to restore the quarterly goal-setting meetings that council had when he was a member. I agree that would make our deliberations more strategic. Right now Council is in "responding" mode, where we don't have strategic thinking or goal-setting as a regular part of our decision-making. Each month's meeting seems to be a reaction to things that happen to us. City staff does a *noble* job of trying to read the tea leaves in the absence of clear direction and bring us things to vote up or down. BUT WE CAN'T KEEP OPERATING THIS WAY and hope to compete successfully in the 21st century!! That is just a fact.

If you like strategic thinking, business acumen, and humble hard work, vote for Roland Wyman.

If you like the goals I have been trying to accomplish, please know that much more of my work would have been do-able if Roland had been on council, either as another vote, or as one more person working hundreds of hours with initiative and action. Roland is is humble rather than egotistical. Right now we need fewer egos and more hard workers on Council.

So much for incumbents.

For two new voices on Council, I chose:

GWENDOLYN GILBERT. Gwen Gilbert will bring a desperately needed perspective to City Council: A working-age person who understands core neighborhood needs and human needs.
Among her top issues are neighborhood quality for all, and safer streets -- including for people navigating our city on
foot, by bike, or with a wheelchair. Gwen spoke to me of her experience helping a family member who has recently become reliant on a wheelchair. It's a nightmare out there on our streets for those using mobility devices. This was, she told me, one of her core reasons for deciding to run for Council. It was my initial reason for deciding to run also. I've done my best to improve biking, walking, and wheelchair conditions on our streets, with some success, but we could have done a lot more. The motivation of the current
Council majority is often lacking around this and other things I have tried to get done. Gwen will help us attack this challenge with real dedication.

Gwen is also concerned about basic neighborhood quality of life issues. Noise, traffic, housing quality -- things that affect people trying to live, sleep, work, and raise their families. We need to focus on these issues, providing "tender loving care" to every neighborhood, since after all our city is made up of this.

Gwen is the head of the Behavioral Health clinic at Agape Health Services. In this role, she provides and oversees human services dealing with substance abuse -- so she deals head-on with some of the most challenging issues in our community.

This is real, and a younger person can bring a critically needed perspective to our city board. I know that she will never be distracted by ego or enticements, but will focus on making life in Washington better, in all the many ways that our city council actions affect it

LOU (LINDA) HODGES. Lou Hodges is motivated to run by fundamental issues: quality of life in all Washington neighborhoods; making Washington the very best Washington it can be; bringing people together across backgrounds and interests. Her late husband, of course, was devoted to all these things.

I strongly believe that Lou Hodges will help council carry forward many of the initiatives that Mayor Mac (Bear) Hodges was
actively working on before his untimely passing last year.
These include:
a network of sidewalk connections that will bridge divides across Washington, connecting people and parks and destinations;
increasing access to the waterfront;
investing in key streets ALL over town;
continuing work on stormwater management and water quality; building safe and quality housing that working people can afford;
retaining talent and young people;
being a superlative community in which to live and work;
bridging the divides in our city to achieve equity and mutual help.

Lou is determined to carry on that legacy but will bring her own perspective to the task. She is oriented towards others rather than self. She will be responsive, considerate, diplomatic, and dedicated to Washington, for its own sake. I would be beyond thrilled to serve alongside Lou if I am re-elected.

That is the team that I choose on my ballot. I hope these notes of mine are useful to you in making your selection.

After much study, I've decided who to vote for in the Washington city election. There's not a lot of publicly available information on the candidates this year, and perhaps that's why so many people have asked me for advice on this. Would you like me to post my choices and the reasons?

Well, it's Council Monday, and this evening at 5:30 will be our last meeting before the municipal election takes place.

Absolutely nothing controversial is on the agenda, which is no surprise, given that Early Voting starts in just three days.

There's a rich record, though, of votes taken over the last two years -- and those will tell you all you need to know about where your council members stand.

If you would like a yard sign, comment or hit the "

As many of you know (and have expressed your concerns) it has been very hard to hear the Council meetings even when you are right there in the council chamber. This is inexcusable. That the public business cannot be heard by the public?! Just astounding. But, now some good news. The City Manager did let me know that a complete new sound system is being ordered for the council chamber. I let him know that I am in favor of updating everything needed -- improve the room acoustics, whatever it takes. This is the public business and we need to be able to hear and participate (elementary!!) I am sure that your dissatisfaction and insistence, along with my advocacy on this, made a difference. Together we can!

Did you know? Recently the City updated its electric utility rules to allow net-metering.

What is net-metering? It means if you install a solar panel on your home or business, you can sell back your extra generated electricity to the power grid.

This makes it financially and contractually possible for more people in Washington to install solar panels on their homes and businesses, if they choose.

I have been asking for this while I have been serving on City Council, and our city staff came through. Many thanks to them for looking into this and presenting an option to City Council.

It was a no-brainer, a simple insertion of words into our electric utility rules, so it passed.

I also want to thank the young couple that brought this idea up when I was campaigning two years ago.

This family with a small child is not rich; they both work tough jobs for little pay. They shared with me their hope of a greener Washington with renewable energy choices that make financial sense for regular people. Their vision was inspiring. I appreciate it.

I strongly believe that ordinary people --
-- working people,
-- people with modest incomes,
-- people with a lot of burdens and juggling multiple roles as parents, workers, homemakers
-- people in the HEART of Washington neighborhoods

are those with the most essential insights to offer in our city.

They deserve to be heard!

Our city can be much more responsive to its residents, including those who struggle toward their goals.

Often, these are the very people who have the vision and the grit and the specific ideas that we, as a city, should be pursuing!

We need a City Council that listens to people in our neighborhoods when they speak up about how the city's policies and projects affect their daily lives. We need a City Council that is willing to work to FOLLOW THROUGH on the insights that people contribute.

Getting net-metering into our electric utility policy was an easy win, it just took some following through. Little wins add up over time!

Utterly ashamed and deeply disappointed! That’s how I feel. City Council appproved a mega-development on Monday night without asking a single question, without any discussion.

In a meeting where members of the public literally could not hear what was being done.

Well … I have something to say about that.

This post is long. Facebook doesn’t want you to read long. It wants you to look at a picture, hit a reaction, and keep scrolling. Yeah ... this post is long.

It’s also poorly organized. I apologize. It takes longer to write concisely. I don’t have time today to make this written piece better. I’ve tried to chop it into bullet points, at least. You’ll have to read it and take what you can. I apologize; it’s the best I can do today. I’m just one person, the only working-age, non-retired person on council.

So this is what I’ve got, today. I try to always give my best!

BASICS

A proposal to change the zoning ordinance to allow the following came before City Council on Monday, and also will come before the Board of Adjustment this evening (TODAY, Thursday) at 6 p.m.

It would allow the following on the tracts of land at the south end of the bridge:

- On the east of the bridge –
- 424 boat slips total, to include

- 272 dry stack boat slips in a 70-foot-tall (7-story) metal storage building with a rapid access electric crane that can (the applicant said) launch boats in 5 minutes from stack storage direct into the water.

- 152 wet boat slips, with boat lifts and three fuel docks

- a huge, six-story building with the other elements:

- Rooftop deck and bar,

- Restaurant,

- 2400 square foot wedding venue, a pole building,

- a banquet and conference center,

- a private clubhouse,

- pool

- offices for the whole development,

- ships’ store

- 5000-square-foot boat repair building

- sales offices for boat reps as I understood it

- 160+ parking spaces

- large parking lot on the west side of the bridge with valet parking, double boat launch, and stop light across US Business 17 Hwy, on the south side of the bridge.

CONCERNS

I have heard you express your concerns about these impacts, and they are my concerns too:

- effects of such a huge development. It is, in no uncertain terms, a MEGA-PROJECT.

- the effect of further colonization of our area, its resources, and people

- the fiscal impact of the proposal, which has not been evaluated and therefore is not known

- the effects on local quality of life

- what happens when a large number of boaters are imported who are not invested in the area

- catering to visitors while ignoring the needs of Washington residents and neighborhoods

- forever changing the character of our city and its essential, dearly treasured, character-defining waterfront setting, with ZERO discussion of the impacts, ZERO questions asked, ZERO attempt to understand specifically what effects it will have on our community, and ZERO opportunity for our public to understand the proposal, ask questions, and express an informed opinion!

MORE DETAILS and WHAT IS HAPPENING .. YES TONIGHT AT 6 PM the BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT HAS FINAL SAY!

On Monday night we Washingtonians again fell victim, via our elected officials, to the “trophy project” fallacy, the most common pitfall of small-town thinking: that some big, glitzy project will answer our prayers. In reality, a mega-project almost always creates more problems than it solves, for locals. Big savior projects usually in fact perpetuate and worsen inequity, along with aggravating whatever the foundational problems are, and more so because they are further ignored and never addressed.


- The knee-jerk and simple-thinking reaction of too many of our elected officials is “it will add to our tax base.” Let me ask you something.

If we are so concerned about our tax base, why are we letting our Washington neighborhoods BLEED OUT from the effects of litter, cut-through traffic, boom cars and rumble trucks, street flooding, speeding drivers, lack of safe street crossings, lack of safe bike and walking facilities, and landlords who accumulate rental properties and maintain them in condition that is a detriment to everyone and every property around them? WHY? Why do we focus on “visitors, visitors!” while we disregard our deteriorating shopping centers, empty buildings, and parking lots all over town, which are NOT adding to our tax base, and depress everything around them? It would be EASY ENOUGH to adopt policies and update our ordinances and invest in better, walkable streets, and crack down on slumlords, and do more to help homeowners, which would boost our neighborhoods and add to their tax value, and create greater demand for empty sites that need commercial tenants. Some of this doesn’t even take money, it just takes adjusting our zoning and policy changes! It is so straightforward, and I have been advocating for this for so long, that I have to conclude that the current Council majority is SIMPLY not interested, or perhaps does not have the insight to understand how to do this, as other towns have done. So I challenge the notion that “adding to our tax base” is in any way a priority, since neglect of our EXISTING tax base through our backwards way of thinking is RAMPANT.

- Furthermore, if TAX BASE is important, why are 9,950 Washington residents and businesses footing the bill for the entire county’s (47,000 people) recreational, airport, senior center, parks, playgrounds, cultural, and major economic development needs? Why? Why does Washington through Washingtonians pony up MILLIONS every year to serve 47,000 county residents wth parks, rec leagues, major library, senior programs, etc? Once again, Washington is the provider/ dumping ground/ boom car cruise route / funding source for everyone who wants anything and it leaves their impact on our city and we are left holding the bag and the bill. We’re being SUCKED DRY. There’s your tax base.

- Our city holds all the cards of location, historic setting, waterfront charm, peace and quiet, walkable connected grid of streets with adorable neighborhoods that mostly just need a little tender loving care and attention from the city – as if they were important. They are! They are the most important places in the world!!! Let’s treat them like it! We have location and waterfront charm, but again and again we throw all our cards away! It’s like we think we are the ugliest kid at the dance, and have to desperately accept any offer.

- What happens when large numbers, perhaps hundreds of boaters, are imported who are not directly invested in the area, neither living here nor understanding the local water-based traditions?

- What will hundreds of Raleigh boaters, dingbatting around in their speedboats in a Jordan Lake-style free-for-all, be like? Will that be best for local people? Is that going to be what we want for us – kayakers and crabbers and anglers trying to enjoy the quiet waters of the upper Pamlico, Tranters Creek, and lower Tar? People who can afford a simple jon boat, what about us?

- Think about this: the rapid-launching crane puts wealthy out-of-towners’ speedboats on the water every five minutes, but you and I and the rest of locals with a little fishing boat or a tandem kayak use the few public boat ramps, often on weekends waiting in line to get in the water, launching our craft the old-fashioned way, one trailer backing in at a time. How will that affect the use of our river; will we lose what we now enjoy? Just for example, what about our local cultural consensus on how close together neighboring crab pots should go, and the question of how seriously we take those no-wake zones, and how much amplified music belongs on a bigger boat next to a couple trying to fish quietly in Tranters Creek? Weekend dingbatters on jet-skis already harass local waterfowl, running them over for fun. So far, though, social pressure and cultural norms have emphasized neighborly enjoyment and a focus on local customs. This is very likely to fade if outsiders overwhelm those who are invested here, those who call this place home. Have you ever watched the little movie at the Estuarium with the Bland Simpson music and lyrics about life on the river, and felt the sense of relaxation, the drop in blood pressure – THAT feeling on the water is what is at risk when we approve what is, to our town and our river, a mega-project.

– Some people have “enthusiastically endorsed” what they refer to as “a marina” because they think it will bring more business and money to town. But it’s not a marina, it’s a dry-stack high-rise metal building, and we may never get the marina if the request is approved; could be only the dry-stack buidling will ever be built. And, the idea that the money will flow out of this development to our city is a big, unwarranted assumption.
- That’s because the entire development is proposed to be private: private club, private docks, private condos, private marina, private restaurant, private roof-top bar, private pool, ship’s store, conference center, on-site repair facility, etc. How would this bring wealth to our businesses? How will this improve our struggling neighborhoods, or cause life to be better for our residents? It will be essentially another walled-off situation where the rich are insulated from the rest of us, and the enjoyment of the water belongs to those who can afford it.

- The proposed high-rise dry-stack metal building would be on the promontory of land closest to Washington, facing the main part of the historic Washington waterfront, and would dominate the opposite side of the river. It would be the most intrusive visual element as seen from all of the waterfront. We have invested SO MUCH and SO LONG in our waterfront for beauty and recreation. Every sunset sky that we now see over water and woods would include this seven-story, plain metal high-rise building.

- The developer mentioned that the condo dwellers in his building would enjoy the beautiful view of the historic waterfront. Washington dwellers and waterfront visitors, though, will get to look at his boat stack dry storage metal building seven stories tall.

– Our city government and expenditures cater disproportionately to visitors in comparison to residents, those who have their lives and livelihoods invested here.

– What happens when the next Hurricane Florence hits the three fuel docks?

– It is a character-changing proposal with zero discussion of the probable and possible impacts, and Council made zero attempt to understand specifically what effect it will have on our community.

– There is no plan for the other side of the river. Incremental developments add to, or take away from, the goals and strategies of the city. We don’t have any kind of strategy or public vision for that area. Most cities and towns with such an incredible asset as our riverfront will plan carefully to make sure that new development fulfills and contributes to a public vision as permissions and extra dispensations are granted by the city government. This is normal, strategic, and responsible. Cities and towns all over America just do it as a matter of course. Developers expect it. We haven’t done it. No! No! Our soporific council comes to meetings, and looks at what staff brings us, and we vote yes or no, and go home and sleep some more. Totally irresponsible by our leadership, who should be thinking about these things!

– Let me be more clear about how towns plan strategically. You seek out public input and the public define the overall vision and goals. This includes developers, residents, business owners, everyone. The private market responds to real estate demand (often greatly increased by the value of public investment and strategic planning), and seeks additional development permissions from the city that provides infrastructure and services courtesy of the public purse. Each increment of development is profitable for the investors, AND also adds public value in the shape of outcomes and atrtributes that citizens envisioned. Very often, projects are MORE profitable for investors because of the value created by public visioning and input. As development occurs, over time, the whole adds up to MORE than the sum of its parts, and greater value is created for both private investors and the public. It’s the difference between haphazard and strategic, between exploitative and adding greater cumulative value. Okay, enough about strategic city planning. I’ve been a city planner for almost three decades and I can always talk about it.

– There was zero opportunity for our public to become educated about the facts of the proposal, to ask questions, and to express an informed opinion after having time to digest and consider what’s proposed.

– We obtained zero commitments and certainties from the applicant. Pictures were shown and numbers were presented which are not enforceable in any way; from the city’s standpoint, they are entirely conceptual and cannot be relied on.

– No phasing was discussed. If a special use permit is issued, it’s entirely possible (even probable) that only the seven-story dry-stack building could be built.

– The newspaper cropped the applicant’s picture, and displayed only a small portion of it on the front page of the paper, and called the proposal a “marina” in the headline, which is inaccurate and incomplete. The cropped picture that the paper ran, left out the seven-story high-rise metal boat stacking building that would dominate the site, and also left out the five long marina docks extending far out into the river. The picture as cropped by the paper showed only a small portion of the whole illustration, only the condo building and pool. This leaves readers with a tiny fractional idea of the proposed development.

- Politicians love big trophy projects, but they do little for residents and businesses that are already in the city. “Oh, this big project will save us and solve our problems!” In fact, big trophy projects not only do nothing for residents and local businesses, they usually just worsen the pre-existing inequities, leading to a cycle of more decline.

- There is this fallacy, which some leaders in small towns are prone to buy into, that “wealth and progress” come from “OUTSIDE” and outsiders. This idea is that no one can grow wealth locally, it is something that is created “elsewhere” and must be enticed into town by giving away the farm, or something. Disempowered communities are especially prone to think in this false way. IT IS NOT TRUE! Progress and upward economic mobility in a small town come from incremental, steady, small but repeated investments in PEOPLE, LOCAL BUSINESSES, and NEIGHBORHOODS, and then retaining them by making the community a GREAT place for locals to stay and flourish! In fact, these small local repeated and steady investments in LOCAL priorities are MUCH more cost-effective, and have FAR greater return on investment, than big savior projects. What we should be focusing on as a city, is not big savior projects, or going all-in on a high-risk big bet. Instead, we should repeatedly and incrementally be finding and meeting the next, smallest need and fixing that thing! Over and over and over! This is the iterative, adaptive, incremental, and HIGHEST-RETURN approach. These are lowest-risk, most effective investments and they work, steadily, in every community that takes this approach! More about this at this link: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/9/23/the-strong-towns-approach-to-public-investment-satbook

Once again our old, Washington vicious cycle repeats:

The public is never asked what it thinks.
The public is never informed what the options are.
The “leaders” fall for failed ideas, first-order thinking, and unsupported assumptions that they never bother to investigate.
No one in charge applies any second-order thinking about effects.

And the cycle of “WE BEEN DONE TO” continues, and the people of Washington are left to complain after the fact.

Outsiders will always be ready to capitalize on us and colonize us. They want to capitalize on our hard work and our public investment, and colonize our natural resources. And all too often, our elected officials let them, and fail us by questioning NOTHING, telling the public NOTHING, and asking for NOTHING in return.

That is what happened on Monday night. I am ashamed of it!!!

I mentioned I would post a few updates. Here is a summary of some highlights of the May regular council meeting.

- Approved: funding from the State Water Infrastructure Authority. The low-interest loan funding will allow us to rehab city sewer pipes that pass under Runyon Creek. These pipes are leaky and perforated, causing a lot of infiltration of non-sewage water to come into our sewer system. The excess water then ends up being processed at our city sewer plant. This is not only very costly and wasteful, but it also affects the capacity limitations of our sewer plant. In a few more years if this excess continues, the City will have to budget and plan for sewer plant expansion. However, if we can get better control over the infiltration of excess groundwater into sewer pipes, we can go longer without having to fund an unnecessary expansion. Thus, repairing deteriorated pipes and keeping them in good maintenances is a COST-EFFECTIVE move that will save taxpayers money. A *LOT* of money. We always need to be thinking ahead beyond our indivudal terms of office and exercising vigilance and FISCAL PRUDENCE on behalf of Washington taxpayers.

- Anthony Tyre, Chair of the Human Relations Council, presented a slideshow explaining the "Freedom to Prosperity" Walking Trail. This will be a walking route that features key places in Washington's history from its beginning, highlighting the history and achievements of African-American people including the role of the Underground Railroad, efforts of business people and advocates for change, and noteworthy historical sites.

- The Council continued to discuss Terms of Office. In a 3-1 vote, the Council voted to advance changing Council and Mayoral terms to 4-year terms (currently 2 years), Councilor Pitt spoke in favor of changing to 4-year terms. I spoke against 4-year terms because I believe we need to answer to the voters every 2 years. If we are doing a good job, the voters can return us to office. Councilor Pitt said that we can't get anything done in 2 years because we spend one year learning and one year running for office. I don't know about anyone else, but it did not take me a year to learn how to be a councilor. I went to Council meetings for almost two years before I ran for office. Also, I did my best to get busy checking off my goals that you asked me to pursue from Meeting One. It also does not take me a year to run for office. But I am speaking for myself.

The vote was 3-1 in favor of pursuing 4-year terms, with Councilors Mike Renn, William Pitt, and Richard Brooks voting in favor of changing to 4-year terms. I voted against.

- We adopted a balanced budget for Fiscal Year July 2021-June 2022 with no tax increase. We achieved this in spite of a $3 million revenue shortfall due primarily to the pandemic.

- We accepted a grant from the state for $18,500 requiring a 20% match in order to re-establish glass recycling. Dropoff stations located around the city will be set up to accept glass recyclables. Due to a collapse in the global market for recyclable materials, our Solid Waste Department had to cease collection of certain items earlier this year. People were really unhappy about that, so I had advocated for our staff to explore glass recycling options. They stepped up and did find this opportunity. It is still tough to carry out a full recycling program because there are fewer processors accepting materials due to the drop in demand. This is largely an international issue over which we unfortunately have little control, but at least we will get glass recylicng under way again.

- I requested that we continue to review opportunities to get traffic calming and cruising enforcement to make our streets less noisy and safer for people. Our Chief of Public Safety has been working on this with great diligence and insight and his efforts are much appreciated.

(The photo is wild irises growing in the northwest part of Beaufort County)