Wanted: Local GED teacher
By Chip Womick
Staff Writer, The Courier-Tribune
FRANKLINVILLE - Needed: a GED teacher for Franklinville.
The request to Franklinville commissioners at their monthly meeting Tuesday
night came from Amanda Ratliff, who oversees a Smart Start program in the
Franklinville area.
Many of the families she works with are Spanish-speaking residents of
Deep River Haven Mobile Home Park on U.S. 64.
"I want a GED class out here," Ratliff said. "It's a daily
battle because their education is so low ... I can count on one hand the
families that have made it through high school. Most of them have problems
reading and writing in Spanish, and my job is to get them to read to their
kids."
Ratliff said many adults whose children are in her program ask her, "When
can I go to school?"
The problem, Ratliff said, is finding someone who is qualified and trained
to teach the GED (General Educational Development) course that is offered
through Randolph Community College. A person can earn a high school diploma
equivalency through the course.
Ratliff also issued a general thank you to area residents, explaining
that she placed a "giving tree" at the Franklinville Fire Department
station on Main Street. On the tree, she hung the names of a number of children
who needed Christmas gifts.
"I was real impressed," Ratliff said. "I went over there
last week and all of the names were gone."
In other business, commissioners:
* Talked about several deer carcasses that have been dumped in the Franklinville
area recently, along the roadside and at a clearing near the top of the
historic Faith Rock.
The town is leasing the Faith Rock property, which overlooks the Deep
River. Board members voted to buy a gate and let town workers install it
to prevent access to a road that leads to the area where a deer carcass
was found near the river.
Last month, Ramseur Mayor Hampton Spivey said town workers had pulled
11 deer carcasses from streams that feed into the town's Sandy Creek Reservoir.
The town draws raw water from the reservoir for treatment at its water plant
to produce its drinking water. The carcasses posed no threat to the safety
of the town's drinking water, officials said.
Board member Paul Dunn said it's likely that night hunters killed the
deer and hastily cut the parts they wanted off before dumping the carcasses.
Mayor Mac Whatley said a wildlife officer also told him that the problem
stems from hunters who are spotlighting wildlife at night.
Board member Perry Hunt asked if there was anything the town could do
about the problem.
Commissioner Jeff Thomas said the problem should be resolved on Jan.
1, when deer season ends.
"We're going to be on the lookout for these deer dumpers here in
Franklinville," Conner said.
* Discussed the need for an audio system to record town meetings, at
the suggestion of Town Clerk Nancy Granger. Granger said she used to tape
every meeting using a cassette player. She said it was impossible to transcribe
minutes from the recording for several reasons: not all comments were audible,
she could not always identify who was speaking and sometimes the sounds
from the audience drowned out the words of town officials.
Whatley suggested that the best way to address the problem is to invest
in microphones to pick up comments of officials and anyone else who speaks
at a meeting.
"We do need something for documentation," he said. "...
I think if we didn't do anything but get a good mike system and a cassette
tape recorder, it would be a big improvement."
Board members discussed whether the system should employ digital recording
and whether something should be purchased for the present meeting room or
for the meeting room in the building next door that will be readied for
use as a town hall in the next year.
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