State House Speaker Pro Tem Richard Morgan has called a public hearing to begin at 4 p.m. in the Seven Lakes North Clubhouse.
The local legislation under consideration would amend and clarify the law first enacted in 1995 to authorize enforcement of state motor vehicles laws within the gated community known as Seven Lakes North, West and South.
Dalton Fulcher, director of the Seven Lakes Land Owners Association, says the proposed legislation is designed to bring the three communities under the same law-enforcement umbrella. The association requested the proposed clarification. Under existing law, Seven Lakes West is subject to traffic enforcement by any law-enforcement agency — sheriff’s department, State Highway Patrol, even the SBI or a wildlife protector, as well as the Seven Lakes police force. However, the law authorizes only the Seven Lakes police to enforce traffic laws in the North and South communities.
PROTECTION — Fulcher says that the clarification would mean equal protection for residents of all three Seven Lakes communities. The bill would mean that travelers on Seven Lakes streets would be subject to the same traffic laws that apply to drivers on state and U.S. highways. The speed limit is 25 miles an hour throughout Seven Lakes.
Fulcher says support for the change is widespread in Seven Lakes, where residents often complain about speeders in their neat, scenic community.
WILEY —- Bruce Wiley of High Point helped Moore County Republicans Tuesday night with legwork needed during their county convention.
Wiley is a candidate to succeed Elizabeth Kelly as chairman of 6th District Republicans.
During the convention, he was given a few minutes to make a pitch for his candidacy. He told the gathering that he decided to run for the district chairmanship after learning that Kelly would not seek re-election this year.
During the convention, Kelly also lost the chairmanship of the Moore County Republican Party. She lost by a narrow margin to her vice chairman, John Owen.
Kelly has served only one term as district chairman, but it was unusual for a person to serve in dual capacities, chairing both the county and the district parties.
As a visitor to the county convention in Carthage Tuesday night, Wiley pitched in and helped with distribution and collection of ballots and also with vote counting.
SHERIFF — The Moore County Board of Commissioners has adopted a resolution authorizing the Sheriff’s Department to secure a grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. The $7,750 grant would enable the department to buy a portable light tower for use in conducting checkpoint stations at night.
In a memorandum to the board, Sheriff Lane Carter said that insufficient lighting at these checkpoints causes a higher than acceptable risk of injury to officers and the public.
The commissioners approved the resolution as part of their consent agenda at the March 21 meeting.
