Commissioners resolve photo issue; delay changes to noise ordinance

By Lisa Majors-Duff

Instead, photos of prominent citizens that once hung in the county's 88-year-old courthouse will be offered to current office holders for display. For example, Jackson County Register of Deeds Joe Hamilton will be given the option of hanging a photo of former Register of Deeds Glenn Hughes, while a representative of the District Attorney's office will be given the same privilege with regard to a portrait of former District Attorney Marcellus Buchanan.

Daughters of the two - Linda Collins Hughes of Atlanta and Chris Buchanan Matheson of Sylva - appeared before the board in August and made requests for their fathers' photos to be hung in the Justice Center's Courtroom One. Though the vote was not unanimous, commissioners agreed with the request and instructed county Manager Ken Westmoreland to hang the photos.

Westmoreland hesitated when he received a letter dated Sept. 25 from Resident Superior Court Judge Marlene Hyatt, who requested the photos not be hung in the courtroom, but in a portrait gallery outside the courtroom. Even with Hyatt's request, commissioners reaffirmed their decision and again instructed Westmoreland to hang the photos in the courtroom.

This time the county manager was halted when Judge Hyatt issued an order prohibiting the photos from hanging in the courtroom, which she called an inappropriate area for the portraits to be displayed.

After consulting minutes from previous board meetings, Commissioner Conrad Burrell explained his opposition to hanging photos in the courtroom.

"When this building was built, (then-board Chairman) Wayne Hooper and the other board members agreed there would be no pictures hung in the building," Burrell said. "The next board chose a uniform style."

That style - a wooden plaque embossed with a bronze image and title - was developed by members of the Jackson County Athletic Hall of Fame and adopted by then-Commissioner Jay Coward, who collected former board member photos of every size, shape and image quality, Burrell said. The Hall of Fame's design has since been used throughout the building to honor sheriffs and other elected officials from Jackson County's history.

"If we are going to hang the photos (of Hughes and Buchanan), we should hang them in the offices where these people served," Burrell said. "That's my personal opinion."

"I agree with Commissioner Burrell," Vice Chairman Stacy Buchanan said. "I'm not interested in hanging them in the hallway."

"We have had problems with those plaques being stolen," Commissioner Roberta Crawford told Hughes. "I would have a fear of it being vandalized."

Also last week, commissioners applied the brakes to two issues that appeared destine for approval when first presented. After a lengthy discussion, board members took no action to grant county employees free access to the Recreation Center in Cullowhee.

"When we came up with the idea of a fitness center, we said we wanted it to be self-supporting," Chairman Jay Denton said. "(Recreation Director) Jeff Carpenter is concerned about loss of revenue. I'm of the opinion that everybody pays."

"We do a lot for county employees," Burrell added. "I don't think anyone can't afford $12 a month."

"I was looking at it as a way of helping our health costs," said Buchanan, who proposed the free memberships during last month's meeting. "But just by giving them free admission doesn't mean they are going to use it."

Others in the community, including the county's volunteer firefighters, have made similar requests with regard to free use of the facility, Denton said. "Where do you draw the line? I think the taxpayers will be happy if we make a profit out there."

With much less discussion, commissioners agreed to table a recommendation by the planning board that criminal penalties be removed from the county noise ordinance. Speaking to the issue was Qualla resident Robert Franz, who advocated for the regulations in the 1990s in an attempt to quiet his neighbor, the Smoky Mountain Raceway.

Dropping the criminal penalties "puts all the burden on the citizen to go out and hire an attorney," he said. "I don't think that would be good for anybody."

A special meeting of the planning board to hear citizen input on revisions to the noise ordinance will be scheduled tonight (Thursday) during that board's regular session, planning board Chairman Jack Debnam said.

"I'd like to meet with the public and see if this is really the recommendation we'd like to make," Debnam told the board.

Planning board members have been reviewing the noise ordinance at the request of Chairman Denton, who expressed concern earlier this year that the document was not being used as intended to correct noise problems. The proposal to drop the ordinance's criminal penalties originated with county attorney Raymond Large, who said problems between neighbors should be settled in a court of law.

Commissioners approved two contracts during last week's meeting. Higher-Kracker Freelance Partnership of Lumberton was awarded a three-year contract to place advertising on Transit Department vehicles, while Coca-Cola Bottling Co. was given the right to sell its products at the Cullowhee Recreation Center in exchange for $15,000 payment to the county and instillation of two basketball score boards at the facility.

Before adjourning last week's meeting, Chairman Denton asked commissioners to be prepared during next week's meeting to again discuss the establishment of a five-member Smart Growth committee. The group would be assigned to work toward goals developed after a series of countywide meetings, during which those in attendance were asked what should be preserved and what could be improved about Jackson County.

Action on the Smart Growth plan, including the recommendation that the county hire a professional planner, stalled in May when board members became fixated on a proposal to develop a fire tax system to fund the county's volunteer fire departments.

Since three new commissioners are scheduled to take office in early December, Smart Growth will be one of the last issues to be addressed by the current board of commissioners. Their final regular session will be Thursday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m.

That meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the county and its incorporated towns scheduled for 5 p.m.

Back to Archive: 11/14/02.