NASHVILLE - Faced with the possibility that the city of Rocky Mount is considering the sale of its water and wastewater utilities to American Water for a reported $174.6 million dollars, Nash County commissioners passed a resolution in opposition to the move, although the resolution has no legal "teeth."

NASHVILLE - Lee Coppedge, recently appointed Assistant Fire Chief for the Nashville Fire Department, is tremendously proud of NFD, which he has been a part of for more than 20 years. His perspective on department growth in call volume, technology and personnel, not something that a newer recruit could ever have, makes him a valuable department asset and a natural fit for the job.

NASHVILLE- After a council request last month for more information about how much stormwater runoff the Railroad Street storm sewer could take, town leaders decided against spending any more money for additional upgrades until they see how much benefit recent work will provide.

NASHVILLE - The "Battleship" median strip on W. Washington Street will be busting out in fall decor after the town council approved the use of $1,000 in MSD funds for the purpose.

Shawn Lucas, planning director, asked for and received council approval Oct. 6th to decorate the battleship, located near Nash Arts and CVS, with items such as hay bales, cornstalks, seasonal mums and fall-themed stick figures "to complement the town's ongoing beautification efforts."

Lucas said the idea was brought up at a recent Downtown Strong Advisory Board (DSAB) meeting, although no specific budget amount was then agreed upon.

Lucas said that DSAB members are encouraging businesses and homeowners to decorate for fall, while town staff and DSAB members will be decorating both the Battleship area and downtown street corridors.

A flyer entitled "Let's Make Downtown Nashville Fall Beautiful" has been posted on the Nashville,NC-MSD Facebook page.

METAL FLOWERS?

The idea of planting large metal flowers around Nashville is gaining traction among DSAB members after they received photos of sample flowers at their last meeting Sept. 22nd.

The idea was initially proposed last month by DSAB member Michael Aycock, who envisioned them as signature pieces for the town in reference to the annual Chamber-produced Blooming Festival. Aycock said the flowers, which he thought could be 8' to 10' in height, could be placed here and there downtown and stretch down Barnes Street to the Nashville Junction.

Aycock compared them to New Bern's bears, which are painted in seasonal colors and outfits.

Tomasine Jones, code enforcer, promptly came up with examples for sale and shared them with board members present.

Garrett Shearin and Brian Hutson, DSAB members, suggested placement at intersection corners, giving the example of the corner across from the courthouse where pedestrians push a button to use the crosswalk.

Shearin also asked about the possibility of finding a local welder to make the flowers.

No board action was taken in order to give members time to look at purchase possibilities.

MURALS

Discussed last month was what art should be put on a mural facing CVS on the side of the Trash 2 Treasures RMT store. Among potential phrases discussed were "Nashville, Home of the Blooming Festival," and "Welcome to the Original Nashville."

Where to come up with the art, however, was the next question. Nash Arts was discussed as one option, in terms of asking local artists to come up with an art concept for the mural. Also discussed was the potential for a public contest, such is publicized each year through The Graphic for the Blooming Festival T-shirts.

No concrete decision was made on where to seek appropriate art, or if any monies would be spent thereon, but the board's preference was to start with a contest through the newspaper, with Nash Arts engagement as a fallback.

Hutson said at the Sept. 22nd meeting that he would like to see a mural painted by local high school students.

"They may spend 30 minutes painting something but they'll remember it for a lifetime."

A question was asked during the board's August meeting about the Boddie Street side of Al Hyde's building as a potential mural site, but Shawn Lucas, Nashville Planning Director, said he understood that Hyde was looking into that himself. Lucas said Hyde was communicating with the same company that did the Faith Christian Ministries mural about a mural idea, along the lines of celebrating that building's history; the building was reportedly owned originally by Hyde's great-grandfather.

MSD FACEBOOK PAGE

Launched last month was the "Nashville,NC-MSD" Facebook page, administered by Code Enforcer Tomasine Jones, who gave an update at the board's September meeting. The page, which had 92 followers as of Sept. 25th, has a community poll on it for the public to make their priorities know about what they'd like to see in Nashville's downtown area.

Jones said that she was hearing that people wanted nighttime dining options, especially an ice cream shop.

The page, which now bears a custom artwork logo of the W. Washington Street streetscape, was conceived of as another way to help generate commerce to downtown businesses.

BOARD VACANCY

Announced both on the page and at the meeting was a board vacancy with the departure of Bethany Lewis. Lucas said he was going to reach out to someone on lower end of Washington Street, presumably a business owner, to see if there was interest.

Hutson, Shearin and Slade Woodard were present, while JoAnne Pope-Clark was present virtually. Aycock and Evelyn Hart had excused absences.

Pictured is the old cucumber shed in Castalia.

An old cucumber market, an empty concrete slab and a $20 T-shirt may not look like the beginnings of a community gathering place, but Randy Mayes can see what could be.

Sudan Animated Animals take time to greet parade spectators.

Spring Hope celebrated its 53rd National Pumpkin Festival last weekend which included a parade, food, craft vendors, live music, a Kidz Zone, produce weigh-off and more. Pictured above, the Sudan Animated Animals take time to greet parade spectators. Pictured below is the winning pumpkin displayed during the parade weighing 1389.59 pounds. The pumpkin growers are Sarah and Steven Baker from Ronceverte, W.V. Riding in the parade along with their pumpkin is Sarah (in black shirt), left, Sylvia, Silas and far right is Sarah. Graphic photos by Amanda Clark

Nash County Public Health has been notified of a confirmed case of rabies in a raccoon found in the Old Bailey Highway and Bend of the River Road area of Spring Hope.

"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)

UNC Health Family Medicine at Nashville welcomed its first patients on October 6 at its newest location at 540 Red Oak Rd., Nashville.

SPRING HOPE - The goal of promoting Halloween activities in Spring Hope generated a lot of discussion at the most recent meeting of the Downtown Development Board (DDB) Sept. 21st, but most of those ideas are at this point only on the chalkboard.

RED OAK- The town of of Red Oak has planning well underway for its next two holiday celebrations: Veterans Day and its 9th annual Christmas Festival, "The Polar Express."

BAILEY- The question of how many cremains and individual urns can be placed in graves at the Bailey town cemetery came up for consideration by the Board of Commissioners in September, who made the decision to uphold current ordinance.

BAILEY - At the urging of a town engineer, Bailey town officials have put pen to paper to sign two major grant-funded contracts for needed water and well work. One contract price- for water distribution improvements- is over one million dollars; a second contract for well improvements totals $967,930.

Melinda J. Keen, Randall Keen, Christie J. Sharpe, Milton Kevin Sharpe, Angela Jones Howard, Melinda J. Keen, William Lee Jones and Melinda J. Keen to Middlesex Enterprises, LTD; 8.16 acres; $39,000

COMMERCIAL PERMITS

Addition; 10975 N NC 58, Castalia,; Chrystal Fisher Licensed Contractor, Nextedge Networks Holdings, LLC; $20,000

From his deathbed in May of 1863, in his final moments, Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson calmly said: "Let us cross over the river." Jackson had spent the day fading in and out of consciousness, at times frantically shouting orders as if still in the fray of battle. Suddenly, it was reported that he became very calm, and his entire body, which had been fixed and rigid, relaxed at once. A slight and peaceful smile washed over his face. And in that final moment, Jackson gently said, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." Even now, as it was certainly then, one can only imagine what he saw as his life slipped away.

If you go to your mailbox, carefully read and study the campaign flyers stuffed in there, and use them to make your voting decisions, I'd like to interview you for a story about unicorns.

If you have known me for any length of time - you most likely know I've long been a sucker for just about any creature who needs a home. Same goes for my husband!