UNITED STATES
Fill a Bag for families
Saturday is the annual “Fill a Bag, Help Feed Families” event sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Just bag healthy, non-perishable food items – beans, canned goods, cereal, fruits, pasta, peanut butter, sauce with meat, soup, tuna in water and vegetables – and place them by your mailbox for your letter carrier to pick up and deliver to local food banks.
For details, visit stampouthungerfooddrive.us.
WASHINGTON
2,220 dams need work
An Associated Press analysis tallied more than 2,200 high-hazard dams in poor or unsatisfactory condition across the United States – up substantially from a similar review conducted three years ago. The actual number is likely even higher, although it’s unclear because some states don’t track such data and many federal agencies refuse to release details about their dams’ conditions.
More than 2,200 dams are in poor condition and likely to cause deaths if they were to fail, out of a total of about 92,000 dams nationwide. The AP reported that 182 of those dams are in North Carolina, but it didn’t say where.
The nation’s dams are on average over a half-century old and often present more of a hazard than envisioned when designed because homes, businesses or highways have cropped up below them. Decades of deferred maintenance has worsened the problem, according to the AP.
But a changing climate and extreme floods – such as the one that caused the failure of two Michigan dams and the evacuation of 10,000 people in 2020 – have brought a renewed focus to an often overlooked aspect of America’s critical infrastructure. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed last year by President Joe Biden will pump about $3 billion into dam-related projects, yet it’s still just a fraction of the nearly $76 billion needed to fix the almost 89,000 dams owned by individuals, companies, community associations, state and local governments, and other entities besides the federal government, according to a report by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
BLUE RIDGE, Ga.
Schools have lunch issues
Martha Williams, nutrition director for Fannin County Schools, and Dr. Micheal Gwatney, the school superintendent, recently talked about the roadblocks faced to provide students with meals in the 2023 school year. The school system received a letter in January from its provider, U.S. Foods, that it would not be renewing its contract.
Williams said the letter cited driver shortages, fuel costs and labor shortages at the company’s warehouse. However, she also blamed the strict nutrition standards that come with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program, which demand 80 percent whole grain meals next school year.
Ever since receiving the letter, Williams has spearheaded the local fight to find the food to provide the half-million meals Fannin students consume every year. She joined with nutrition directors in Dawson, Gilmer Lumpkin, Pickens and Stephens counties to form a Mountain Area Group to bid a contract for food supplies to all.
The hope was the combined buying power would attract a supplier. It did not; no supplier responded to the bid. A group of six counties led by White County received the same results. Another bid notice has been sent in hopes for a solution.
HAYESVILLE
Wreck causes power outage
A single vehicle accident on Myers Chapel Road on May 3 caused a major power outage for Hayesville along with water leaks, forcing school to close an hour early.
The outage was caused by an accident reported around 12:30 p.m. in which a 2022 Dodge Ram struck a power pole and a fire hydrant. The driver, Bonner Lee Johnson III, was traveling south toward the golf course on Myers Chapel when he crossed the center line, ran off the road to the left and struck a fire hydrant a nearby power pole, according to a reported filed by N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper C.J. Scerri.
The three-phase pole looked splintered in half after the impact, leaving hot wire lines down across a dry field that began to smolder and ignite in spots. Firefighters kept it under control by hosing the area.
Johnson, of Myers Chapel, was driving a Prime Retail Services work truck out of Flowery Branch, Ga., at about 30 mph. Two other passengers were in the truck. No one was taken from the scene for medical treatment.
HAYESVILLE
Steins & Wine nears
The eighth annual Steins & Wine Around the Square will return Saturday, May 21, inside the Historic Clay County Courthouse/Beal Center grounds, with both new vendors and popular favorites to taste or buy drinks by the glass.
The popular event is sponsored by Historic Hayesville Inc. as a fundraiser for
downtown projects. The proceeds from this year’s event will be used to restore the old town hall as a classroom.
Gates will open on Sanderson Street at 4 p.m. and continue until 7:30 p.m. with food to enjoy with any flavor of beer or wine. Attendees must be ages 21 or older to consume alcohol and identification is required to enter the event.
Tickets are $15 each and available at Tiger’s Store on Herbert Street or the HHI Centennial Exhibit at 116 Sanderson St., next to the Hayesville Post Office.
CORRECTION
There was a reporting error in the article “Middle Dogs win track & field title” on page 1B in the May 4 edition of the Cherokee Scout. The anchor leg for the Murphy Bulldogs was run by seventh-grader Andrew White. The Scout regrets the error and should have caught it.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Public meetings
THIS WEEK
- Cherokee County Veteran Forces meets at 10 a.m. today at the Cherokee County Courthouse, 75 Peachtree St. in downtown Murphy.
- Cherokee County Board of Education meets at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Central Office, 911 Andrews Road in Murphy.
- Andrews ABC Board meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Facilities Building, 85 Fourth St.
- Cherokee County Department of Social Services Board meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the DSS conference room, 4800 U.S. 64 W. in Ranger.
COMING SOON
- Cherokee County Board of Commissioners meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 31, in the multi-purpose room of the Cherokee County Courthouse, 75 Peachtree St. in downtown Murphy.
- Cherokee County Board of Commissioners has scheduled the following budget meetings for 6:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room of the Cherokee County Courthouse, 75 Peachtree St. in downtown Murphy: Thursday, June 2; Monday, June 6 (the public hearing on the county manager’s recommended budget will be held at the beginning of the regular meeting, while the budget work session will be held immediately following conclusion of the regular meeting); Thursday, June 9; and Monday, June 13.
From staff reports.