North Carolina Government

The evening started at the Park and Recreation building on Hillcrest Lane outside of Carthage. Billy Ransom, the director and Maria Morrison the Admin Asst were there to tell us about their department and give us a tour of their facilities.

They have seven staff members and five facilities spread throughout the county offering Youth, Adult and Senior Activities. Their mission statement says,

(Moore County Parks and Recreation) Provides leisure service to the residents of Moore County with first priority to youth and senior adults.

Moore County Youth Activities include Basketball, baseball, softball, flag football, soccer for both boys and girls, Tennis, Volleyball, Cheerleading and Dance Impressions. The Adult and Senior Activities include Co-Ed Softball, 50+ Softball, Good Time Party at the Davis Center the 3rd Friday of each month and Dancing and Tai Chi at the Old West End Gym.

Yesterday, Virginia Foxx of the NC 5th Congressional District sent me her newsletter with this piece titled “Honoring our soldiers’ sacrifice” with the subtitle of “This month, remember the cost of freedom”.

The soldiers who take their places in the ranks of today’s military face challenges unlike those of any other era. The enemies of freedom are less easily defined and the battles to preserve liberty are not demarcated with the distinct contrasts of the past. In the face of these new challenges our troops continue to excel.

Yes Virginia, the enemies of freedom ARE less easily defined, let’s look at your voting history and see how you define yourself:

H.Res. 274: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1538) to amend title 10, United States Code, to improve the management of medical care, personnel actions, and quality of life issues for members of the Armed Forces who are receiving medical care in an outpatient status, and for other purposes. (On Agreeing to the Resolution) This bill was submitted on March 28th of this year, and you, Ms. Foxx voted NAY!

The Moore County Veterans Office has been providing services for Veterans since 1945. Their mission statement is “To advise Veterans, widows and dependents of rights and benefits under federal, state and local laws and file claims under these laws.”

Terri Protts, the Director of the Department, gave us the presentation. She made it entertaining and made sure we paid attention by giving us a sheet of words in a Bingo format. Throughout her talk if we heard these words, we were to cross them off the sheet calling out “Bingo” when they were crossed off in a row.

This department has been serving adults over 60 in Moore County since 1984. To date, they have 19 Full Time, 4 Part Time employees and 160 volunteers. Their motto is “To Provide services that promote the well-being of older adults.” They have an annual budget of $1.3 million plus grants and funding through a number of sources including contributions from the community.

Their In-Home Aide Program provides three levels of care, Home Management, Bathing Assistance and Respite for Caregivers. These services include simple laundering, light housekeeping, running errands and meal preparation in the Home Management level. In the next two levels, they help with bathing, dressing, feeding, ambulation and toileting along with relieving the caregivers whenever the nursing assessment believes it is needed.