The top story of 2008 has to be politics. A year of campaign signs, mailboxes stuffed with candidate flyers, robo-calls and campaign visits to the county from state and federal candidates concluded with the historic Nov. 4 election, in which the nation elected its first African-American president.
The call for change heard throughout the year also brought us a new congressman, one of our own, when Biscoe native and East Montgomery High teacher Larry Kissell handily defeated Congressman Robin Hayes.
Locally, political history was made even earlier with the May Primary Election in which voters overwhelmingly approved county-wide alcohol sales. The Primary also opened the way for a big change on the Board of County Commissioners, with incumbent Billy Maness not running for reelection and the other two incumbents being defeated.
The excitement of national and local races turned out hundreds of new voters in Montgomery County, including 107-year-old Artelia McCaskill, a resident of Autumn Care in Biscoe, and found election workers busy with heavy turnout during early voting.
As the political year drew to an end, three new county commissioners, Edgar Morris, Jim Matheny and Anthony Copeland were seated and immediately faced with serious budgetary issues due to falling revenues from the economic recession.
The economy was also much on the minds of all county residents in 2008. In January, the Biscoe Event Center opened with much fanfare, only to fizzle and close later in the year. In March, a round of cutbacks at First Health Montgomery Memorial made the news, followed by the closing of FirstHealth’s Biscoe clinic.
Gas prices climbed through much of the year, driving up prices of food and other necessities, peaking with a spate of panic buying related to Hurricane Ike in September and creating gas lines and spotty outages on and off for several weeks. The N.C. Attorney General’s Office issued subpoenas to several local stations and filed a price-gouging suit against one.
As the year drew to a close, gas prices, along with the national economy, took a dive. Montgomery County Country Club went on the auction block and Peebles department store in Troy announced it would close in January.
On the brighter side, Biscoe approved rezoning for a planned new light industrial development; a biodiesel plant appears set to come to Candor and the closed poultry plant in Troy got a buyer but a date for opening is still unknown. The Caye Furnishings facility opened in Ether, and Central Carolina Hosiery got a grant for new machinery with the promise of nearly 20 new jobs.
While real estate sales and residential development tanked, the county did see plans in the works for a new apartment complex in Biscoe and at least two new developments on Lake Tillery. And after some controversy, approval was granted for Galilee Uwharrie, a church youth mission camp planned for Eldorado.
The biggest news in education 2008 was the opening of the new Green Ridge Elementary School. Despite problems that delayed the opening, students and teachers made the move smoothly in November. Earlier in the year, Montgomery County Schools completed its important SACS accreditation and continued to expand online learning options for high school students.
A series of retirements and resignations meant searches for new principal at Mt. Gilead, Page Street and West Middle School. And as the year drew to a close, the school board found itself embroiled in controversy surrounding athletic programs and facilities at West Montgomery High School.
At Montgomery Community College the student population continued to grow, with MCC having its largest graduation class ever. Ground was broken for a new forestry building and advanced planning got under way on a hoped for new health sciences and student services facilities.
Wells contaminated by pesticides used decades ago in peach and tobacco farming filled the news in 2008, and residents in the southeast section of the county affected by the highly toxic chemicals in their water clamored for help from the county. The EPA and state agencies provided bottled water while local and state officials worked together to organize funding to run public water to the area. With funding in place, design and permitting are now under way and construction should begin in May.
Out on Glenn Road, the walls rose on the long-awaited county jail. The facility, expected to come in at approximately $9 million, is scheduled to be ready for occupancy in April. It will not include a new sheriff’s office, an issue that split the board of commissioners and went back and forth several times before being finally settled after Commissioner Jackie Morris was seated on the board in December 2006.
Also on the county front, commissioners found themselves caught in a lawsuit filed by Commissioner George Knight over his arrest for disrupting a September 2006 meeting. The suit, which named Commissioners Sally Morris, Billy Maness, Dolon Corbett, as well as Sheriff Jeff Jordan and two deputies, was eventually settled through mediation with the county agreeing to pay Knight $10,000 plus mediation costs. At year’s end, County Manager Lance Metzler reported that Knight’s attorney had still not signed final papers on the agreement.
Local government offices throughout the county saw personnel changes. For a while, Mt. Gilead had two chiefs of police, with retired Troy Police Chief E.J. Phillips taking over day to day operations while outgoing Chief Joe Amos remained on the payroll before leaving for another position.
Mt. Gilead Town Manager Bryan Thompson and his wife, Montgomery County Planner Theresa Thompson left in the summer. Lee Capps came to the Mt. Gilead manager position and the county hired Scott Carpenter as planner.
Troy, Candor and Biscoe all got new police chiefs this year: Kenny Allen in Troy, Randy White taking over from Shane Brown in Candor, and David Maness stepping up when Biscoe Chief James Myrick retired.
After several months without a financial officer, the county hired Asheboro native Lisa Rolan. The Montgomery County Board of Health continues to search for a new health director following the departure of Tammie Bell, who resigned after claiming vandalism at her Troy apartment was race and work related and whose request to live out of county was denied.
While drug busts and violent crime made headlines this year, a number of happier stories also found their way into the headlines. Page Street teacher Trisha Muse was named regional Teacher of the Year in January. In March, the county honored long time Herald publisher Nudy James with a special day. A story in April detailed how Star resident Kenneth Hubbard was part of a historic six-way kidney transplant and was recognized by President Bush during a visit to the White House.
The year also included family fun, festivals and good times: the annual Fiddlers Convention, the first Uwharrie May Jam, the 30th anniversary celebration at Camp E-Ku-Sumee, high school graduations, TroyFest and the Peach Festival. The year also brought the first and highly successful county recreation summer day camp, the excitement of sending the local Dixie Darlings softball team off to the World Series, crowds of runners making their way over the rugged Uwharrie Mountain Trail Run, the third Uwharrie Mountain Festival and all the joy of Christmas parades, pageants and concerts that helped bring 2008 to a close.
