News

Commissioners under fire for burn ban

Young County Commissioners split on whether to lift the burn ban on Aug. 29 after a spate of much-needed rain and constituents clamoring for the chance to burn brush piles and light homecoming bonfires. The commissioners took no action after much discussion and a tie vote on lifting the ban, which has been in place since June as area firefighters battled extreme drought conditions. Precinct 1 Commissioner Stacy Creswell voted no. “We’ve got places south of town where people don’t have cattle … and [have] grass that’s waist high, and brush piles they want to burn,” he said. “There’s no safe way to burn that no matter how you do it.” Precinct 2 Commissioner Matt Pruitt abstained from the vote, joking that he was “scared” to vote because of mounting pressure from both sides. “Newcastle Fire Department says they don’t want to lift it,” he said, noting that the town’s high school students were equally adamant about having a Homecoming bonfire the following weekend. “I just want to make the right decision for my constituents,” Mr. Pruitt said.

Newcastle polling at Baptist church

Young County Commissioners moved Newcastle’s polling location from City Hall to the First Baptist Church of Newcastle at 501 Graham St. ahead of the Sept. 8 general election. Election Administrator Kaitlyn Mosley said she requested the change at the behest of Newcastle city officials. “They came to me and said, ‘This isn’t working out,’” she said. The City Hall location can accommodate only one voting machine and scanner, and created too much traffic on a weekday for people to transact business with the local government, she said. The Baptist Church location was suggested by local citizens, she said. “I haven’t been there but I hear there is a lot more room,” she said. The commissioners also approved lists of Democratic and Republican election judges and workers that Ms. Mosley submitted to them at their Aug. 29 meeting.

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Olney group arrives in Moscow

After Sunday breakfast, we assembled for a trip into Moscow to visit places of interest. This was a trip of several miles as the Retirement Center where we were housed was not close by. As always, besides our guide, Igor Troyanovsky, we were accompanied two or three others. First, we visited the local Russian Orthodox church. As it happened, a funeral service was in progress. We commented of the beautiful singing, and were told that it was professional. Our guide, Igor, was prominent when Communism existed. He explained at the time his dad died and his services were held at the church, that he waited outside because to go inside would have meant immediate expulsion from the party. Anyone stepping inside the church had to register. We visited Lenin’s glass tomb with a large group of others, then on to other shops and a local meat market. We were told that supplies were very limited and to maybe get anything, you must be first in line. We were given tickets to the world-renowned Bolshoi Theatre so that was our evening agenda and definitely an experience to be remembered— the gold leaf decorations were breathtaking! Intermission time in the lobby was hosted and a buffet of all sorts of hors cont’d from Page 1

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