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County leaders' proposed cemetery board draws fire
By Derek Hodges
Jackson County officials are facing opposition to a proposed cemetery board from Alvin Frady, founder of the Jackson County Cemetery Society who has spent several years working on the old County Home cemetery.
Chairman Stacy Buchanan presented a proposal to commissioners Tuesday, Jan. 11, for the creation of a Jackson County cemetery board.
If approved, the cemetery board would be charged with evaluating cemeteries on county land and recommending what type of maintenance should be completed on them.
The proposal lists seven members for the board, to be appointed by the commissioners. Five of those members would be selected at random, one by each commissioner. The Jackson County Historical Society and the Genealogical Society would submit one name each to the commissioners for approval to fill out the board.
To allow for circulation on the board, the members selected by commissioners from districts one and two would serve two-year terms, while those from districts three, four and five would serve four-year terms.
The board would request funding from the commissioners to maintain cemeteries.
The proposal found no opposition from commissioners on their first reading. However, Frady called it a "sham."
"It's all illegal," Frady told The Herald Monday (Jan. 17).
Frady said he checked with the N.C. Attorney General's office on the legality of the proposal. He was told that the proposal and the process the commissioners have followed so far in getting it approved is illegal, he said.
"They told me it can't be done like this," Frady said. "This has to be brought before the county in a public notice, with a time for the people of Jackson County to have their say on it."
Buchanan said he believes everything officials have done so far in the process has been legal.
"We're not even going to vote on it until February at the earliest, and we give notice of each of our meetings," Buchanan said.
Buchanan said Tuesday he wasn't surprised that Frady is upset about the proposal.
"He's done a lot of work out at the old County Home cemetery over the past few years," Buchanan said. "This is kind of his baby."
Frady and the society have submitted proposals to buy the County Home cemetery. Each one has been rejected for different reasons, Frady said.
"First they told us we couldn't do it because we aren't (a non-profit) organization," Frady said of the cemetery society. "But I called the attorney general's office and they said we don't have to be an organization."
"Now the commissioners are trying to start this illegal cemetery board because they don't want to sell the cemetery to us," Frady said. "The county sells land to private citizens all the time, but they won't to us, even though it's in the county's best interests."
Frady said that the cemetery could be restored without using county funds if it were in his society's hands.
"We're just not going to sell it to them," Buchanan said, noting the difference between selling off buildable county land and putting a county cemetery into private control.
Frady vowed to keep fighting to gain control of the cemetery.
"This won't be over, I'll mortgage my house and hire a lawyer if they do this," Frady said.
A public hearing on the issue will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, in the commissioners' board room at the Justice Center.
If the commissioners are satisfied with the proposal after that meeting, a vote will be held for the creation of the board at the commissioners' regular meeting at 7 p.m. that same night.
In other business Jan. 11 and 18:
• Recreation plans approved: After hearing from 13 citizens on the need for improved recreational facilities, commissioners approved the recreation master plan submitted by the Jackson County Recreation Department. The plan, which had been presented at several recent commissioners' meetings and was then sent back for revision, includes a proposal to construct an indoor pool at the Cullowhee Recreation Center.
Most of those who spoke in favor of the plan focused on the need for an indoor pool. Star Matheny, a Fairview eight-grader who plans to swim for Smoky Mountain High School next year, said county swim teams need a new place to practice in the winter.
"We need somewhere else to go, because we can't always use Western's pool," she said.
• Southern Lumber revolving loan: On the recommendation of Commissioner Eddie Madden, commissioners approved the land swap requested by attorney Jay Coward on behalf of Patrick and Jeannie McGuire at the December meeting. However, they have requested the McGuires grant the county right of way and utility easements on roads servicing their property.
• Mark Watson Park tennis courts: Commissioners voted to award a contract to Whalen Tennis Company of Asheville in the amount of $51,800 for resurfacing the tennis courts at Mark Watson Park.
"Those courts have never been resurfaced," said county Manager Ken Westmoreland. "They're in pretty bad shape."
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