Bladen County Board of Education recently approved the hiring of an architectural firm to begin work on a new school in Tar Heel … to be located on the same site as the present school … The $22 million facility is the result of a $15 million grant request approved by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. The county will match the grant … paying about $1 for $3 from the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund. Actually, the needs based grant is paid for by the N.C. Education Lottery. Students from Plain View and Tar Heel Middle will attend when completed … Congrats to the Board of Ed and Bladen County Commissioners … much needed.
It’s been years since a new school was built in Bladen. They are expensive…
Guess I have been one of thousands who have grumbled about little to show for funds raised by NC Lottery over the years…
Actually brings back memories … Back in the 1980s, crews from Fort Bragg worked on the East Bladen athletic fields as part of their training … it was good for Bladen tax payers. The total cost of the projects was the cost of fuel and food for individuals working on the job … US military from Ft. Bragg provided the equipment and workers…
And, it was about that time … give or take a few years, that Bladen County volunteers began Rescue Squads … Sad to see them ‘fall by the wayside’, but a sign of the times … Few have time for such important service … not just providing the service, but constant training … Bladen County is to be commended for answering the call several years ago and approving a full-time county-wide service. Expensive, but necessary…
All that to remind us that a new tax bill is expected soon … well, next 2 or 3 months … grumbling is OK, but it is how the county provides their many services … Commissioners will adopt a 2021-22 budget before July 1, and tax bills arrive shortly thereafter…
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” James Madison
“We have the best government that money can buy.” Mark Twain
“That government is best which governs least.” Henry David Thoreau
robert g hester
rgh4612@gmail.com
910-876-2322
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