County Looks At New COG

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A Moore County delegation was in Raleigh Friday to take a look at Triangle Council of Governments.

County Manager W. David McNeill Jr. was accompanied by personnel from the county’s aging, emergency services, planning and water supply agencies.

McNeill told Pilot Light that the county is interested in the services available through Triangle J, which serves Lee, Chatham, Orange, Durham, Wake and Johnston counties. All of these same counties, along with Moore, are also a part of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, an economic development program now headed by former Moore County economic developer Charles Hayes.

RTRP has been successful in attracting desirable new industry to Triangle counties, and McNeill wants to find out if there might be additional benefits in attaching Moore County to the COG serving that area.

Moore County is no longer a member of Pee Dee COG.

SCOTT — At a meeting Tuesday, the Moore County Board of Commissioners will adopt a resolution recognizing Bill Scott on his retirement as director of the Moore County Parks and Recreation Department.

Scott retired Aug. 31.

The board is meeting tomorrow because of the Labor Day holiday conflict with the regular Monday meeting date. The Tuesday meeting will begin at 2 p.m. in the historic courthouse in downtown Carthage.

The agenda also calls for the commissioners to adopt resolutions on a local water supply plan and to authorize Kanoy Architecture of Pinehurst to conduct a feasibility study on the Moore County Department of Social Services building project.

The board is scheduled to make appointments to the library board and the Hazardous Materials Planning Committee.

At the end of their regular agenda, the commissioners are expected to go into closed session to discuss a legal matter.

MEDICARE — At a town hall meeting in Asheboro Thursday, U.S. Sen. John Edwards told a community group that Congress should enact a prescription drug plan for the 40 million Americans on Medicare.

“I strongly support a prescription drug benefit for seniors,” Edwards said. “Too often seniors are forced to choose between buying the medicine they need or putting food on the table.”

The former Moore County resident said he has voted for fiscally responsible, bipartisan legislation to expand Medicare to cover prescription drugs.

He also backed a measure that would allow pharmacists and wholesale distributors to import prescription drugs that were made in this country and shipped overseas. That could bring down prescription prices, because many drugs are sold abroad for less than pharmaceutical companies charge customers in the United States.

The Census Bureau reported last week that older people represent the fastest -rowing group in North Carolina, with the number of those 85 and older rising by 52 percent in the 1990s.