NOW THAT Congress has approved tax increases, the focus in Washington needs to be on runaway spending, deficits and the massive accumulation of national debt.

But some in Congress just can’t stop eyeing the paychecks and wealth of Americans. Only days after passing a tax compromise that raised rates on the wealthiest wage earners, taking in an estimated $600 billion over 10 years, congressional leaders are eyeing another $1 trillion in new revenue.    Many in Congress — and evidently, the man in the White House — don’t get it. It’s the spending side of the ledger, not the revenue entries, that is driving the nation toward a real fiscal cliff.

The nation is more than $16 trillion in debt and is fast approaching another borrowing limit that will require congressional approval to increase. The debt situation is so bad, even plans by Republicans labeled as “extreme” by Democrats don’t balance the budget for decades.

The truth is, it will probably take many years to balance the budget even with what most in Congress consider aggressive spending cuts.

But the federal budget will never be balanced — and $1 trillion annual deficits will continue — unless Congress and the White House put the brakes on entitlement spending.

But the major driver of the annual deficits is spending, especially on entitlements. Writing for The Wall Street Journal last month, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said if entitlements continue to rise, federal spending will hit 40 percent of gross domestic product. It stands at 24 percent now.

Most disturbingly, Portman noted that there won’t be enough tax revenue to cover new obligations.

To avoid this dystopian debt future, Congress and the White House must agree on a “grand bargain” that reforms the big entitlements — Medicare and Social Security — perhaps by raising the eligibility age and extracting a bit more from wealthier seniors. Leaders must also slow the spending on smaller but ballooning entitlement programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and more.

Cuts to the defense budget should also be weighed, but must not run as high as 2011’s hastily agreed-upon number of $500 billion over 10 years.

And last but not least, the U.S. Senate must do its job and pass a formal budget. It has not done so for more than three years, allowing automatic spending to increase at a much faster rate.

Congress and the White House must pull up their sleeves and hash all this out as they work on deals to raise the debt limit and continue government operations in the next few months.

The job now is to cause a little pain to avoid massive pain — and possible default — in the nation’s future

A bill moving through the North Carolina General Assembly is seeking a remedy to this state’s unemployment insurance problems.

Right now, North Carolina owes the federal government $2.8 billion for loans from the federal government to help the state cope with a shortfall of funds during “The Great Recession.”

The Revenue Laws Study Committee crafted a proposal to enable the state to repay the federal government loans by the end of 2015, be solvent in the future, and build a reserve of $2 billion to prepare for the next economic downturn.

In addition, the proposal strives to restore the North Carolina Employment Security System to its role as employment agency instead of benefit agency, according to proponents.

The current shortfall and debt stems from two basic problems. In the 1990s, when the economy was booming along most of the time, North Carolina cut the amount of unemployment insurance taxes employers had to pay into the system.

North Carolina had built a healthy reserve fund, and lawmakers decided the reduction of this particular tax would help stimulate job growth.

Please keep in mind that employers pay 100 percent of the unemployment insurance taxes. Employees themselves contribute nothing from their paychecks.

Since unemployment was low, the General Assembly thought its reserve fund was sufficient to handle an upswing in unemployment. However, since the recession has afflicted the state economy for more than four years, unemployment benefits paid outstripped revenue. Benefit payments also exhausted the reserve fund — and then some.

To remedy this situation, employers faced a $21 increase per full-time employee in the unemployment tax in 2012 and will face another $21 increase in 2013.

For an employer with 50 employees, that figure amounts to $2,100 in extra taxes — just for unemployment insurance.

This same tax is set to increase another $21 in both 2013 and 2014. In 2014, the same employer will see unemployment taxes cost an additional $4,200 over the 2011 rates.

The most surprising bit of information I learned while researching this issue was generosity of unemployment benefits this state paid compared to surrounding states.

The maximum weekly benefit payment North Carolina provides is $506, some sources even say $525. Virginia’s max is $378, Georgia’s max is $330, and South Carolina’s maximum weekly benefit is $326.

Florida and Tennessee offer a $275 maximum weekly benefit, a little more than half of North Carolina’s.

For many people receiving unemployment, $506 a week may be far below what they earned when working, but $506 a week translates to $26,000 over a year. Of course, our state pays benefits for a maximum of 26 weeks. But other states in this region average a maximum benefit of $348 for only 23 weeks.

Senate Bill 99 has already passed the state Senate and is in committee in the state House. Under this bill, the maximum benefit would fall to $350 per week.

The bill also reduces the benefit period from 26 weeks to 20 weeks in times of high unemployment and restricts benefit payments to between five and 12 weeks in times of low unemployment.

If this bill becomes law, the debt to the federal government for unemployment insurance would be paid in full by 2015. Without this plan, or some other plan, by 2019 unemployment insurance rates would increase by 56 percent over current rates.

Critics on one side contend employers do not need to pay higher taxes in a period of recession and slow recovery — during a time we need to be stimulating job growth. Critics on the other side allege the state is trying to pay this debt by placing a disproportionate burden on the backs of the unemployed.

Both sides have raised good arguments, but our state, unlike the federal government, must often make tough decisions in order to keep its programs solvent.

Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at mparker16@suddenlink.net or in care of this newspaper.  

When Paige Wright joined the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary in 2005, she knew she had what it takes to make the Army Thrift Store’s boutique a success.

“When I went to the Auxiliary,” she said, “I knew I could help.”

She began hand-picking the donated clothes that met high standards in cleanliness, quality and style to place in a section of the store called “Ruth’s Boutique.” She tags them with prices, sorts them according to size, displays them on new hangers and helps customers make their selections.

The owner of The Blythe House in Washington, N.C., a women’s apparel shop formerly in Kinston, Wright has brought her fashion experience to the store.

But she doesn’t volunteer simply to run a clothing outlet. All the proceeds from the boutique support community youth efforts — such as scholarships, after-school programs, summer camp for needy children and playground equipment — as well as equipment for the Salvation Army’s office and chapel, said Margaret Perry, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary.

“This is our main money-making project, and Paige Wright has given numerous hours to it,” Perry said.

She’s been the “backbone of the boutique,” Perry continued.

Ruth’s Boutique has been in the thrift store since the Army moved into its location on Boy Scout Road in November 1993. It was named after Ruth Guthrie, who founded the Women’s Auxiliary in Kinston in 1989 and was its first president.

Over the years, the boutique became less of an eye-catcher until Wright stepped in with her zeal and charm.

“(Wright) comes in like a whirlwind,” said Maj. Milton Wood of New Bern, manager of the thrift store. “She knows what she’s doing.”

Wood said the quality of clothes in the boutique has improved since Wright took over.

Jeanne White, a volunteer from Kinston, said Wright is a “terrific lady.”

“She is the best person that’s happened to this store,” White said, “because she knows what she’s doing (and) does a good job with the knowledge she has.”

Wright said the staff calls her the “Energizer bunny.”

She not only volunteers a couple of days a week in Kinston, but also in Washington she runs a home-decorating business — staging houses to make them attractive to sell.

The boutique carries jackets, blouses, pants, dresses, after-five wear, career clothes and suits in all sizes.

The store welcomes donations of high-end, gently used and dry-cleaned or sanitized clothing for the boutique, especially in larger women’s sizes, Wright said.

“Lots of times they’re pretty much bagged in dry-cleaning bags,” she said about the clothes people donate for the boutique. Donors often verbally specify they want their items placed in the boutique or they attach a note on the donations.

With fewer donors, many of whom were Auxiliary members who have died, there have been fewer donations of high quality to support the youth programs.

“That’s why I go that extra step to help them,” Wright said about the Auxiliary, “because it’s personal satisfaction and passion, because I enjoy doing it.”

Meet Me Monday:

Who: Paige Wright, Washington native and La Grange resident

Age: 59

What: Ruth’s Boutique in the Salvation Army Thrift Store

Work: Volunteers at the boutique, owns The Blythe House in Washington

Family: Husband Walter Wright; Pet ‘Blythe,’ a Yorkshire terrier

Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter at MargaretFishr. 

Around four years ago, staffers from the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office were in Wilmington for computer training, when they saw a secretary’s counter covered in rocks. “It caught our attention,” says Peggy Barwick. “People had brought them to her as souvenirs.” The group began to collect rocks from their travels and soon customers also started bringing them in. There are rocks in the window of the Sheriff’s Office from all over the U.S. and as far away as Kaiserslautern, Germany and Ikeika, Japan. If you would like to add a rock to the collection, be sure to label it with your name, date and place where you traveled.  

Although she did not win the sought-after Miss America crown Saturday, Miss North Carolina Arlie Honeycutt traveled back to the Tar Heel State with her head held high.

“Going into the broadcast, I had kind of an inner peace,” Honeycutt, 20, said Sunday by telephone as she and her family prepared to leave Las Vegas, where the 2013 Miss America finals were broadcast live on ABC Saturday night.

“I did not think it was going to happen for me, but it was really good just to stand up there with my sisters,” she continued.

Honeycutt, who won the state title after being named Miss Kinston-Lenoir County 2012, was one of 53 Miss America contestants who underwent more than a week of intense preliminary competitions ahead of Saturday’s finals.

The top 15, based on their preliminary scores, were selected live on television, and in a surprise twist, the judges named a 16th finalist. Honeycutt did not make the top 16, though.

The eventual winner crowned was Miss New York, Mallory Hagan. Honeycutt did walk away with an award, though. She shared the non-finalist talent award with several fellow contestants.

Honeycutt’s platform has been promoting volunteerism, and her talent has been singing. The Garner native is a voice performance major at East Carolina University, where she is a junior.

Each contestant was introduced in the beginning of Saturday’s broadcast and had the opportunity to give a humorous description of her home state or territory.

Honeycutt said she was from North Carolina, “the state where it’s illegal to sing off-key.”

Honeycutt said Sunday she was “really excited” to get back to North Carolina, where she will continue her reign through June, when the next Miss N.C. is crowned.

“I have a couple of days to decompress and not wear makeup or high heels, and then I’m going to get right back to it,” she said.

Honeycutt plans to return to the Kinston area. She was in town in late November for the crowning of Maggie Nelms, 23, and Makenzie Sasnett, 14, as the respective Miss Kinston-Lenoir County and Miss Kinston-Lenoir County’s Outstanding Teen for 2013.

Honeycutt is the first Miss Kinston-Lenoir County to be crowned Miss N.C. since Constance Dorn Rist was crowned in 1972. Rist, who currently lives in the Charlotte area, went on to be first-runner-up at Miss America.

Honeycutt said she had spent a great deal of time talking with Rist.

“There is such a sisterhood among Miss North Carolina, and Miss Kinston-Lenoir County,” Honeycutt said.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.

When Richard and Pamela Ivey moved to the 400 block of East Lenoir Avenue in early 2012, they were looking for a quiet block to live on.

While they have found a block safe enough to have their grandchildren visit, there are certain areas Pamela Ivey said she will not let the children go — two of her grandsons were with her and her husband Sunday afternoon, playing in their front yard.

“They don't go that way,” she said, pointing to her left at the houses at 403 and 405 E. Lenoir. “I keep them this way, close to the house.”

The houses near the Iveys show signs of disrepair, including boarded-up windows, peeling paint, rusted metal roofs and, 405 E. Lenoir, a porch roof that has fallen, possibly a casualty of 2011’s Hurricane Irene, according to residents.

“It makes the area look bad, really, and then it could be a hazard for the kids and people might go up in there and start a fire, cause trouble for other people,” Richard Ivey said.

The East Lenoir houses are two of 30 dwellings in the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard corridor which Kinston officials have put on a preliminary list of structures slated to be torn down.

The city will use a $100,000 Community Development Block Grant it received through the N.C. Catalyst program last fall to fund the demolitions.

Interim Planning Director Adam Short and City Manager Tony Sears told members of the City Council recently that the list is preliminary, and they would be working with city staffers and property owners in the coming months to conduct environmental reviews and slim the list down to about 10 to 15 homes.

The area affected is bordered by East Vernon Avenue on the north, Quinerly and South McDaniels streets on the east, East King Street at the south and North East Street at the west.

Ten of the homes of the list have been designated as “priority” structures because of their proximity to MLK.

Others have been designated as alternates, and Short told the council if the owner of a priority home objects, an alternate home can be put in its place.

Two of the priority homes, in the 600 block of East Gordon Street, are considered historic properties.

A grand, three-story house with a columned porch at 607 E. Gordon showed signs it had once been used as a legal office of Dr. Joseph Askew, JD, who provided real estate, tax, notary and insurance services.

“I've been here five years and this place is sill looking the same, not changed one bit at all,” said neighborhood resident Rodney Jones.

Jones, who lives near Southeast Park along MLK, was visiting his cousin Sunday who lived across from the historic homes.

He said he returned to Kinston about five years ago after living in Raleigh and Greenville.

“It would be nice if they take some of these old houses down and build some new ones,” he said.

Jones, 32, grew up in the neighborhood and said it had been a nice place to live at one time.

“It would make the neighborhood look a lot better if they tear these houses down,” he said.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.

Reminded moments after a 99-88 win over Guilford Tech on Saturday that his team next faces No. 1 Louisburg, Lenoir Community College men’s basketball coach Bobby Dawson had an interesting, if not perfectly sensible, immediate reaction.

“Oh, Lord,” he said before giving a brief assessment of Louisburg’s size and talent.

“It’s going to be a dogfight, but we can go out there and make it a decent game if we just keep our intensity and share the basketball.”

Dawson’s Lancers (4-3, 1-1 Region X) withstood a valiant second-half comeback effort from Guilford Tech to emerge victorious in their first game since Dec. 8, a product of a lengthy break for exams and the holidays.

Today’s 7 p.m. contest against the Hurricanes (15-0) is the second of seven scheduled January games, four of them at home.

LCC dropped a 114-87 decision at Louisburg on Dec. 1, so the Lancers have an idea what to expect.

The Hurricanes, the nation’s top-ranked NJCAA Division II team, are averaging 93.3 points per game after Saturday’s 86-77 win at Patrick Henry Community College.

“We’ve got a lot to feed off of with them beating us at their place,” Lancers guard Isaac Brown said. “When they come to us, it’s going to be a different story. Hopefully, we’ve got momentum on our side and we can show them something, beat them.”

Against Guilford Tech on Saturday, the Lancers built a 19-point second-half lead before allowing the Titans to pull within four. LCC regrouped and pulled away using a high-octane transition game.

The Lancers know their mettle will be further tested today.

“If you want to be the best you’ve got to play the best,” Dawson said. “And we’re playing the best Monday night. We just hope we can get some things worked out and go at it a little harder.”

David Hall can be reached at (252) 559-1086 or at david.hall@kinston.com.

Though couched in concerns for federal spending that are easy to understand, the objections of U.S. Rep. Walter Jones to a National Endowment for the Humanities grant that provides a community college with educational resources about Islamic culture cannot help but resound with intolerance.

“It is appalling to me that a federal agency like NEH is wasting taxpayer money on programs like this,” Jones said in a news release condemning the grant to Craven Community College in New Bern. “It makes zero sense for the U.S. government to borrow money from China in order to promote the culture of Islamic civilizations.”

While on one hand Rep. Jones, the Farmville Republican whose district includes a portion of Lenoir County, has long opposed federal money going to such programs, he said that there should be a balance and that the college should give equal exposure to books about Christianity and America’s rich Judeo-Christian heritage.

The Craven-Pamlico Christian Coalition has committed to donating 25 books on those topics.

Put aside the fact that exposure to our Judeo-Christian heritage isn’t hard to come by in this part of the world. Jones’s reaction — or overreaction — ignores the presence in his district of a Muslim population, the need for understanding in an area where military deployments make Muslim culture much more than an abstraction and a community college’s mission to educate.

It’s a stretch to cast the NEH collection as tools of indoctrination, rather than education. The collection includes 25 books, a DVD, two short videos about Islamic art and architecture, and a one-year subscription to Oxford Islamic Studies online.

Book titles include: “The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam,” “The Story of the Qur’an,” “Muhammad,” and “A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America.”

Seven North Carolina colleges and universities received “Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys” grants.

CravenCommunity Collegehad support in obtaining the grant from the New Bern-Craven County Public Library, Carteret County Public Library and Interfaith Refugee Ministry.

“This fits in the mission of the college of improving and enhancing the lives of individuals and communities by providing opportunities to prepare students for a global society,” Judy Eurich, a spokeswoman at the college, told the New Bern Sun Journal.

Carol Mattocks, chairwoman of the college’s Board of Trustees, put it this way: “An institution of higher learning is always looking for ways to navigate a global society,” she told the newspaper.

We should trust college administrators to ensure any materials made available to students about religious cultures, regardless of faith, work to broaden understanding, rather than promote a particular religion.

Benefit to support 7-year-old

A barbecue benefit sponsored by Southwood Memorial Christian Church is planned for Friday for Emily Dunham, 7-year-old daughter of Sam and Kim Dunham. Emily was diagnosed with Type I Juvenile Diabetes when she was 4 years old. She has an insulin pump but still has to check her sugar levels several times a day and at night.

The benefit is raising money to help the family buy a Diabetic Alert Dog for Emily, which will be able to determine a sugar level change 20 to 30 minutes before it happens. The cost of the dog is $25,000. 

The committee will be peeling potatoes in the Southwood Church Family Life Center Wednesday. To help, show up at 3 p.m. with your own peeler.

Barbecue chicken or pork plates are $7 each, available Friday at these pick-up stations: Woodman Community Center, Southwood Memorial Christian Church, Wheat Swamp Christian Church, Pink Hill Volunteer Fire Department, Deep Run VFD, Jackson Heights Piggly Wiggly, Piggly Wiggly at the Plaza, old Piggly Wiggly parking lot in La Grange, the Kinston-Lenoir County Visitors Center, Fuel Warehouse at Skinner’s Bypass and Fairfield Recreation Department.

An order of 10 or more plates at one location can be delivered by faxing the order to 252-522-2230 or emailing to benefit@embarqmail.com by Wednesday.

As an individual, business or organization, donate by making checks payable to Southwood Memorial Christian Church, 1027 N.C. Hwy 58 S., Kinston, NC 28504. Designate that the check is for the Emily Dunham benefit. For more information, call Wendy Robinson at 252-559-0852.

Hospital’s plans workshop

The Pastoral Care Department of Lenoir Memorial Hospital is offering a free, full day workshop Feb. 4 to help families and friends deal with life events that are so hard to understand.

“Where Is God When Bad Things Happen?” will be presented by Terry Wilson, chaplain and manager of Pastoral Care at the Medical University of South Carolina. Wilson has done extensive work in this area and has distinguished himself in how to help people in a cross cultural setting.

While everyone is welcomed, the target audience is pastors, health care professionals, community leaders and caregivers.

The workshop will be in the hospital auditorium on the lower level. Seating is limited so reserve a seat by calling 252-522-7131.

A Chevrolet Suburban met up with a Dodge Stratus Monday morning, with predictable results.

“They were traveling north on (N.C.) 58, and the Dodge stopped at the intersection, and the Suburban ran into the back of her,” State Trooper M.S. Turner said.

Lashannette Larina, 34, of Kinston, was driving the Stratus. Lenoir County EMS arrived at the scene a few minutes before 10 a.m., helping Larina from the driver’s seat to a stretcher, where she was immobilized. Paramedics transported her, with unknown injuries, to Lenoir Memorial Hospital from the wreck site at Wootens Crossroads.

Christopher Lee Stevens, 42, of Kinston, drove the Suburban. Turner cited him for failure to reduce speed.

The Hugo Volunteer Fire Department was the first to respond to the collision, sending three fire trucks. Firefighters initially helped Larina and managed traffic until the scene was cleared.

While Stevens received no injuries, his Suburban suffered relatively minor damage to its left-front grill and headlights, from crushing the trunk of the Stratus. The collision resulted in nearly shearing the Dodge’s bumper off — the tow-truck driver had to finish the job before taking the car away.

The impact of the wreck caused the Stratus to spin around and enter the southbound lane — it eventually came to rest on the far side of the road. The Suburban stopped atop a small mound of grass slightly past the intersection.

Wootens Crossroads is where N.C. 58, Dawson Station Road and Airy Grove Church Road meet in northern Lenoir County.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at WolfeReports.

Kinston High School Principal Angela Bryant knows sometimes a traditional pathway to education isn’t always best for some of her students, but some of those alternatives still contributed to the North Carolina’s 3.01 percent dropout rate for the 2011-12 school year.

She said some students can’t focus in a classroom setting and others lack discipline and leadership the school can’t always provide.

“You have to treat every kid differently,” Bryant said.

She has recommended some students chose alternative education options, such as the adult education program at Lenoir Community College or the Tar Heel Challenge Program. If they select those routes and go on to earn a high school diploma or GED, it still counts against the school as a dropout.

“This is going to hurt us as a school, but I’m going to help that kid by working to provide that child another opportunity,” Bryant said.

The Department of Public Instruction reported the most current dropout rate is a decrease from the previous 3.43 percent.

Bryant said it’s rare to find students who enjoy all academic subjects, so the school administrators try to engage the teenagers by offering various career pathways.

“Let’s face it, there are kids who don’t enjoy (school),” Bryant said. “It’s very seldom that you’ll find a kid who loves every subject, but you’ll find kids that are really passionate about other subjects.”

She added requiring students to pick a career pathway while in school will balance their interest and keep them enrolled.

“If you can keep that passion going, that’s really helpful for them,” she said.

Once a student is 16-years-old, they can choose to drop out of high school after going through a lengthy process depending on the school system.

In Greene County, guidance office representatives at the high school will only approve a drop out once the student has spoken with a counselor, the principal and Greene County Schools’ Central Office.

“We try to give them different scenarios to get them to stay in school,” said Don Marr, Greene Central High School principal.

The dropout rate at the school improved from 1.67 percent in 2010-11 to 1.37 percent for the 2011-12 school year. The most recent graduation rate for Greene Central was higher than the state average at 82.74 percent, Marr said.

He said students with behavioral issues can attend the Alternative Education Center.

“They go there and they flourish,” Marr said. “We’ve been able to save many students at the AEC.”

Some Greene Central students made a preventative dropout video for which they earned $8,000 to keep coming up with ways for fellow students to stay in school.

“I’d tell them that it’s not worth it,” said Kinston High School sophomore Jeremy Staten, 15, about persuading fellow classmates to change their mind about dropping out. “You wouldn’t be able to get anywhere in life without having an education.”

Teachers in area school systems are urged to make a connection with the students — starting long before they reach the high school hallways.

Jones Middle School Principal Michael White said he gets the community and parents involved to keep students interested in education.

“We really try to get to know the kids and find out what they like,” he said. “I do know this is the age when a lot of stuff starts, and they’re very curious about a lot of things. They can very well start loosing interest in middle school.”

Job fairs, community events and getting to know parents all contribute to helping students understand the importance of education, he said.

“(Those factors) help us all around the classroom to try to prevent discipline problems,” White said. “Middle school is the place you can catch them and really get them interested in lots of things.”

All North Carolina public colleges and universities are represented in Jones Middle’s hallways so students can at least become familiar with higher education.

The high school dropout rate for Jones Senior High School was 4.42 percent in 2010-11 and was 3.03 percent in 2011-12, giving Jones County the most positive rate gain.

“At the end of the year when they leave us, we hope they have a better feeling about education and why they need it,” White said.

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

BREAKOUT BOX

North Carolina dropout rate at record low

Dropout statistics from 2011-12

n 3.01 percent of high school students dropped out of school (0.42 percentage point decrease from the previous year’s rate of 3.43 percent)

n Dropout count decreased in 70.4 percent (81 of 115) school districts

n Male students accounted for 60.3 percent of reported dropouts (60 percent the previous year)

n Students most frequently dropped out in 10th grade (28.6 percent)

n The dropout rate for 9th graders was 26.7 percent, 25.3 percent for 11th graders and 17.3 percent for 12th graders

n 41.5 percent attendance was the reason most cited for dropping out

Source: Public Schools of North Carolina

Many City of Kinston utility customers are still fuming over the recent Rouse Road substation failure that left thousands of customers without electricity. Those who weren’t fuming described themselves as “steamed,” while those who were stoned at the time didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

Officials with the city have narrowed the problem down to a piece of equipment known as an “arrestor,” which — in laymen’s terms — is a surge protector on a grand scale. This device is not to be confused with the equally popular surge scale on a grand protector or its lesser-known cousin, the scale surge on a protected grand.

According to a story written by Free Press reporter Wes Wolfe, these arrestors would normally last between 30 and 50 years. As it turns out, the arrestors that have caused the two most recent blackouts are only about 16. An unnamed source at the City of Kinston confirmed the faulty pieces of equipment were still under warranty.

“This equipment came with a 30-year warranty, but somebody forgot to clean his pants pockets out before he put them in the wash and the receipt was ruined,” said the unnamed source. “For a while, I’d check his pockets before they were washed, but after so many years you just get tired of treating a grown man like a little boy.

“I reckon he thinks his mama is gonna keep cleanin’ up after him, but his mama don’t live here — although there may be room for her soon.”

Wolfe’s story went on to say officials plan to replace all of the arrestors at the problematic substation in question. As for the current faulty equipment, minutes from a 1993 Kinston Council meeting reveal that a heated debate led to a 3-2 vote in favor of purchasing electrical equipment from a new vendor at a cheaper price.

“Looking back on it now, buying electrical equipment from Hasbro may not have been the wisest decision,” said a former Kinston City Council member who wished to remain anonymous. “Them Cabbage Patch Dolls were hot as fire at the time. They agreed to throw in a few dozen cases of them dolls if we bought our arrestors from them. Everybody on the council that year had Cabbage Patch Dolls to give to their youngun’s and grandyoungun’s; I didn’t have children at the time, so I sold my share and went to Cabo for a month.”

The unnamed council member continued, “A little Old Spice and a wad of money goes a long ways down there, although I brought something back that penicillin nor Ajax could run off.”

While most citizens realize it’s pointless to blame the current administration (no pun intended) for the city’s electrical woes, a combination of rising bills, lower income and spotty service has them screaming for solutions.

To that end, the Kinston City Council held an emergency meeting during last week’s power outage.

“We met by candlelight at the courthouse,” said one council member. “The mood was much more relaxed than our usual meetings. At one point someone turned on a battery-powered radio and Andre Crouch’s ‘The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power’ was playing.

“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t get a little emotional.”

The meeting — which didn’t adjourn until 4 a.m. the following day — yielded what may be the most controversial decision ever reached by the City Council.

“We’re going to annex Tri-County Electric,” said a Kinston City Council spokesman. “They’re not burdened with this ElectriCities thing, it’ll be less of a burden on our utility workers and they stopped buying parts from Hasbro back in the ’70s. As far as ElectriCities go, we’re just going to stop sending in payments. What are they gonna do, turn off the electricity?”

Just as this edition of The Free Press was about to go to print, a small but spirited rally broke out in front of the Rouse Road substation in Kinston. Out of a group of 17 in attendance, 15 were holding up signs demanding better service and lower rates, while two individuals who appeared to be under the influence of marijuana were seen clutching the chain link fence and repeatedly asking for help.

“We’ve been hearing about this sub place all week, so we came down to get a sammich,” said Tommy Marin of Brewster Place, Kinston. “The dude has been on like a bathroom break for hours, man. Having access to all that cheese is probably harshing his mellow right now.”

Jon Dawson’s columns appear every Tuesday and Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or at jon.dawson@kinston.com. Purchase books, music and glamour shots at jondawson.com.

SNOW HILL — One of Greene County’s favorite daughters was laid to rest Monday.

Jean Rouse Preston, a state legislator for 20 years, was buried at Fairview Cemetery in La Grange following a service at the chapel at Taylor-Tyson Funeral Service in Snow Hill. She died Thursday morning from complications from a fall she suffered while on vacation in Waterbury, Conn.

Before retiring and moving to Emerald Isle — starting a career in politics — Preston was an educator. She graduated from ECU in 1957 with a degree in business education, and taught business classes in Wilson and Greene counties, as well as Lenoir Community College. She later returned to ECU to receive her Master’s degree in education in 1973.

Over the course of her career, she became Greene County director of reading for K-12 students and the program administrator for children with special needs.

“We knew that we could always have her ear,” said Dr. Patrick Miller, Greene County superintendent of schools. “She would always listen, and she was very responsive. We would always, certainly, have something to talk about — even if we didn’t agree on the issues we could talk about home. I would add that there were very few times we didn’t agree on the issues. She was a very generous person. She was always quick with a smile and made you feel right at home.”

Miller gave special thanks to the Rouse family foundation, of which Preston was a board member.

“The Rouse family has a foundation, and they were very generous with donating back to the Greene County community,” Miller said. “They were very instrumental and made large donations for the Greene County Parks and Recreation complex, for the new gym floor and for new bleachers in the gym at Greene Central High School.”

He added, “For that, we are more than grateful because there’s no way we could have funded those projects without their help.”

Before retiring, Preston served as the principal and director of education at the Barnes School at the Caswell Developmental Center.

But with retirement and the passing of husband Hugh Forbes Hardy, Preston moved to Carteret County, where she later remarried to retired U.S. Army Col. John Edward Preston. She made her first run for the N.C. House of Representatives in 1992, serving seven terms before being elected to three terms in the N.C. Senate.

She served Carteret, Jones and Onslow counties as a representative and Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties as a senator. Preston announced in January 2012 she wouldn’t run for a fourth term in the Senate.

“She was helpful to me when I first got in the House,” said N.C. Sen. Louis Pate, who first won election to the House in 1994. “She had served a term or so when I first got there, and she was very friendly towards me and most helpful, helping get my bearings as to what I was supposed to do and how you went about having your influence felt, and that sort of thing. I was lucky enough to be able to follow her over to the Senate and served this most recent term with her.”

Pate said he admired her for her assistance to him and to his campaign, where Preston was “instrumental” to his efforts in Greene County in the 2010 Senate race.

In her six years in the Senate, Preston was the co-chair of the Senate Committee on Education/Higher Education and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education/Higher Education.

“Jean Preston was a pioneer in the field of special education who dedicated her life to ensuring our children have the brightest future possible,” Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a statement. “As a legislator, Sen. Preston worked tirelessly on education reform and on achieving better results for our students. She was legendary in her district for an amazing work ethic and commitment to providing outstanding constituent service.

“Sen. Preston was a dear friend, and my colleagues and I will miss her greatly.”

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at WolfeReports.

Breakout Box

Jean Rouse Preston

n Born: May 25, 1935 in Greene County

n Died: Jan. 10, 2013 in Waterbury, Conn.

n N.C. House of Representatives, 1993-2006

n N.C. Senate, 2007-2012

Marguerite G. Whitfield, who spent 12 years on the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners — and served on the boards of a number of other community organizations — passed away Sunday at the age of 85.

Whitfield, who lived in the Moss Hill community, came from a farming background. Her late husband Melvin was also a local farmer.

Friends and colleagues remembered her for her devotion to agriculture, as well as education, youth programs, and health and nutrition.

“It will be a great loss for this community,” said former Commissioner Isabelle Fletcher Perry. “She certainly did a lot during her lifetime, especially during the later years when she was a county commissioner.”

Perry, 95, is the county’s first female commissioner, and served from 1978 to 1986. Whitfield served on the board from 1992 to 2004.

The two women also served on the county and state Extension and Community Associations, which are boards of residents who support programs and events put on by Cooperative Extension offices.

“We both were very active in the county and the state level as well,” Perry recalled.

They served at different times, though — Whitfield was a past president of the county and state ECAs.

“She was very supportive of the Extension and all the work we do,” Trudy Pickett, family and consumer education agent, said Monday. “In fact, she would bring us little Christmas goodies every year.”

Pickett said Whitfield came by the Extension as recently as about three weeks ago, faithfully bringing Christmas cheer to the staff.

Extension Director Tammy Kelly, who has been at her post since 2003, said Whitfield was “always interested in staying young and staying healthy,” and kept up with Extension articles about healthy eating.

“She used to call me every week, practically,” Kelly said. “If I wrote an article about flaxseed, she wanted to know more about it.”

N.C. Rep. George Graham, D-Lenoir, who was elected to the General Assembly in 2012 after 30 years as a commissioner, said he and Whitfield “worked together several years, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her; I learned a lot.”

Graham added: “She primarily was concerned with education, good schools with good learning centers for our youth, and she would always be excited on the opening day of the tobacco market.”

Graham noted Whitfield was devoted to her family as well.

“She was a very special mother and grandmother,” he said. “She was just very special in nurturing those relationships.”

County Manager Mike Jarman was the county tax administrator during the majority of Whitfield’s three terms on the Board of Commissioners.

“I enjoyed working with her,” Jarman said. “She cared deeply about the county and the community and she was a strong supporter of the employees.”

Whitfield was also known for her devotion to local youth — she served as a guardian ad litem, advocating for children going through the court system, and was a board member of the Lenoir County Boys & Girls Club.

She, along with fellow board members Gary Black and Tim Pate, received a Legacy Award from the Club in 2010.

“It is very humbling, and it means a lot to know that they would recognize me, even though I do not feel like I deserve it,” she said after that 2010 ceremony. “To know that I can help one child, that would be enough for me.”

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.

Early income tax filers should expect to receive their federal income tax return a week later than in past years, due to the Internal Revenue Service pushing the date it will accept returns back one week.

The IRS traditionally accepts returns beginning Jan. 22, but will accept them starting Jan. 30 this year because of Congress’ 11th-hour passage of spending and tax legislation to avert the much-feared “fiscal cliff” at the end of 2012.

The legislation is known as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

“We have worked hard to open tax season as soon as possible,” Steven Miller, acting commissioner of the IRS, stated in a recent news release. “This date ensures we have the time we need to update and test our processing systems.”

The move affects more than 120 million tax filers who typically file early in the annual tax season, which lasts through mid-April.

“It is going to delay the refunds an additional week,” Wendy Rhodes, franchise owner of Liberty Tax Service in Kinston, said Monday.

Staffers at Liberty and other tax preparing firms around Kinston and Lenoir County have spent recent weeks preparing for the upcoming filing season, and dealt with uncertainty as the “fiscal cliff” deadline approached.

“We have gotten all of the forms now, but they’re just doing things on their end so they’re ready when the (electronically filed returns) are sent into them,” Rhodes said of the IRS.

Officials with the IRS have encouraged taxpayers in recent years to file their returns electronically in order to receive a refund quicker. The agency offers free filing through its webpage, irs.gov/Filing.

Gene Rybolt of Kinston serves as the local coordinator of the AARP’s Tax-Aid program, working with volunteers who help Lenoir County’s senior citizens file their tax returns.

Rybolt said the majority of the local clientele has a federal income tax rate of 10 to 23 percent, the “low to moderate-income” taxpayers.

The program is scheduled to begin in early February, but Rybolt said he has not yet received critical information from the IRS, such as guidebooks for the 2012 tax year.

He also said the late acceptance date would push back the time in which seniors could receive their refunds.

“Anyone that's going to get income credit, they file immediately so they can get their money back,” he said. “Most of the work that we do in February and March is some type of refunds.”

Rhodes said taxpayers can file their returns now as long as they have their W-2, 1099 and other required forms — the IRS will not “open the window” until Jan. 30, though.

She said filing before Jan. 30 would ensure taxpayers’ returns are not backed up with those who file on that day.

Rhodes also encouraged electronic filing “because everything is going electronic.”

“You can paper-file your return and they’ll process it when they get to it,” she said of the IRS.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.

BREAKOUT BOX:

Quick hits:

The IRS has made some of the following changes due to ‘fiscal cliff’ legislation for tax year 2013:

n Marginal income tax rates of 10, 15, 25, 28, 33 and 35 percent remain the same

n Individuals with incomes of $400,000 and couples with incomes of $450,000 have a 39.6 percent rate

n Alternative Minimum Tax exemption increases to $51,900 for individuals and $80,800 for couples filing jointly

n These changes and more affect taxpayers filing their returns in 2014

Source: irs.gov