“We are losing kids to drugs, and we don’t have the parental guidance we had before,” said Rose Highland-Sharpe, who helps coordinate the 4-H summer program in Taylortown, in a presentation to the board. “We need programs. We need church guidance.”
The 4-H summer program will start July 13 and run every Wednesday until August 10 from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Taylortown community park, Highland-Sharpe told the board.
But the program is one of a mere handful in Taylortown, board members and residents pointed out Tuesday.
Identifying a lack of youth programming rekindled recent discussion on the apparent disappearance of the once tight-knit community in Taylortown. Town leaders and residents have for months been debating strategies for re-establishing a community feel.
“We have young kids who we won’t know how long they’ll be here and new people who don’t know anything,” Commissioner Lonnie Jones said after the board’s May meeting during which several commissioners were threatened with physical violence and political upheaval. “Everyone used to know everyone.”
The small town, incorporated in 1987, is comprised of many lifetime families and has had virtually the same board makeup for a decade.
But recent growth and prominent additions, such as the Pinesage development and Olmsted Village, seem to have subdivided the town’s population into factions and general detachment, board members said.
Tuesday’s discussion was the last in a series of pleas for more town-based activities. Residents and leaders alike have suggested that recent problems with frequent vandalism at town-owned facilities and general apathy toward town operations in part are the result of bored kids without guidance.
“We need to get together and give kids something to do,” resident Darrel Morrison said.
Morrison is now working to coordinate a series of “block parties” for younger community members, one of several suggestions that grew out of Tuesday’s discussion.
‘Make a Stand’
Residents and the board also discussed reinstating the community’s after-school program and providing more amenities at the community park as ways to improve community cohesion and youth involvement.
“We must make a stand for our children,” Highland-Sharpe said, calling the 4-H program a springboard for more town activities.
Commissioner Jeffery Moody said he sees the results of misguided childhoods among high school-aged youths.
He told residents that he is unable to give many scholarships as part of his job at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke because of applicants’ academic and behavioral records.
“We have to get out there and start pushing,” he said, stressing the importance of getting kids involved at an early age.
Morrison pointed out that Taylortown children now have only the park and the pool as outlets for their energy.
Residents and board members advised Highland-Sharpe that she can better promote the 4-H program, as well as other programs, if she talks with children and advertises around the park.
“Not everyone goes to church,” said Nancy Cole. “We need to give all kids something to do.”
Commissioners agreed that giving children direction will help the entire community, but advised that initiatives require more than just talking.
“We need volunteers,” Jones said, “and I’ll look into trying and do other stuff.”
Jones said Wednesday that he is waiting to see what Morrison puts together for the block parties before investigating other community events.
No Tax Increase
The 2005-06 fiscal year budget adopted Tuesday keeps the property tax rate at 40 cents per $100 property valuation. The tax rate has stayed the same since 1987.
General fund revenues and expenditures were projected at $570,000. Legal fees, maintenance to public buildings and general police funding line-items all were raised by at least $10,000.
Water fund revenues and expenditures were set at $116,800. Sewer treatment expenses decreased by $6,000, mostly due to the recent increase in commercial sewer fees.
