|
|
|
Final four for city manager post
turned over to council
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
GUN BARREL CITY–The Gun Barrel City Council members approved tighter
restrictions on sex offenders.
Council members also agreed to interview the four finalists for the city
manager post.
Tuesday, the city manager search committee turned over the names of the
top candidates for the city manager to the council.
Council members instructed the committee to inform the finalists their
names had been forwarded for council interviews during one or more
executive sessions.
Each one lives within 100 miles of the city, council members heard.
“Any one of the four would make a great city manager, in our opinion,”
committee chairman Curtis Webster told the council. “You’ll need to take
it from here.”
The council authorized the city attorney to order background and credit
reports on the finalists and provide six copies, one to each council
member.
The council also passed an ordinance preventing convicted sex offenders
from living within 1,500 feet of any place children gather, such as
public or private schools, daycare facilities, playgrounds, public
pools, video arcades and youth centers.
State law restricts convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000
feet of such locations.
Those exempt from this rule are:
• those who already live within the 1,500-foot radius and have complied
with all sex offender registration laws, prior to this rule’s adoption.
• those who were a minor when the crime was committed and were not
convicted as an adult.
• a minor.
• those whose residence complied with the 1,500-foot rule, but later a
school, playground, etc. was built within the restricted area.
Further, the ordinance makes it unlawful to rent to a sex offender if
the rental unit is within 1,500 feet of a children’s gathering place.
The council has debated this subject on several occasions, having
discussed a one-mile restriction.
In other business, council members:
• reappointed John Delay to the Board of Adjustments for a term to
expire December, 2008, and appointed Lucille Boyd to join him on the
board, with her term to expire the following year.
• appointed Charles Donley to the Planning & Zoning Commission until
October, 2009.
• set a public hearing for July 10 in regard to a special-use permit for
East Cedar Creek Fresh Water Supply District to install a lift station
in the Arbolado subdivision.
• allocated $6,508.78 from the hotel/motel tax fund to Friends of Tom
Finley Park to pay for repairs to the boat ramp.
• took no action to set a special meeting with the city’s auditing firm
to outline details for a forensic audit of ECCFWSD.
• tabled consideration of animal control contracts with Henderson County
Humane Society and Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake.
Sea creatures on display at
Tri-County Library
Monitor Photos/Kerry Yancey
ABOVE: Young visitors get a close-up view of barnacles and starfish
during a “Sail Away with Books” summer reading program presentation by
the “Creature Teacher” Thursday at the Tri-County Library.
BELOW LEFT: “Creature Teacher” Robyn Wheeler holds
a puffer fish, also known as a porcupine fish, explaining how when
threatened by a predator, the fish swallows water to swell up and force
out its spines, to make itself less desirable as a meal. Wheeler told
youngsters the fish is considered a delicacy in Japan, even though parts
of it are extremely poisonous. BELOW RIGHT: “Creature Teacher” Robyn
Wheeler points out the different types of legs on a horseshoe crab for
young library visitors.
Woman held after police
standoff
Monitor Staff Reports
PAYNE SPRINGS–A nearly three-hour hostage situation
Thursday morning ended peacefully with no reported injuries.
According to reports, around 6:30 a.m. Henderson County Sheriff’s
Deputies responded to a hostage situation call at 103 Circle Drive in
the Lundy Land II subdivision, public relations officer Lt. Pat
McWilliams said.
Sharon Kay Perkins, 49, was reportedly armed with a .38-caliber pistol,
and threatening to harm an 80-year-old male companion. She also
threatened to harm police officers if they attempted to arrest her,
McWilliams said.
The sheriff’s office Tactical Unit was summoned, but the situation was
resolved around 9:30 a.m. with Perkins being taken into custody,
McWilliams reported.
“We’ve held her before for alcohol problems,” McWilliams noted.
McWilliams said Perkins had been transported to a local facility for a
mental health evaluation. At that time (late Thursday afternoon), she
had not been formally charged with any offense.
“She probably won’t be arraigned until in the (Friday) morning,” he
said.
Council denies ‘dog rescue’
permit
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
GUN BARREL CITY–After a lengthy second public hearing regarding a
special use permit for Tina Hamilton to operate a limited nonprofit
dog-rescue service from her Tamarack home, the mayor broke a 2-2-1 tie
to deny the permit.
Brawner Hall was filled with people voicing their concerns for and
against the operation Tuesday.
In favor of the special-use permit were Hamilton’s immediate neighbors
and property owners living within 300 feet of her house and beyond.
They testified to the absence of noise, smells or disturbances of any
kind coming from her home, located at 204 Whispering Trail.
The criteria for applying for the special permit have all been met,
Hamilton said.
Those requirements are:
• limit to eight dogs on the premises (including her own four dogs) for
adoption purposes only.
• her home is subject to routine inspection by the city to insure clean,
safe, humane conditions.
• any one dog (excluding her pets) may stay on premises for only 30
days.
• written approval from every neighbor or property owner within 300 feet
is required, and is revokable if one person within the 300 feet objects.
• records are to be kept on each animal for inspection. Before an animal
is adopted out, it must be current on all its shots and be spayed or
neutered.
• complaints of noise, smell, animals running loose outside the
permitted area or other nuisance is subject to citation as per city
code.
• repeated complaints from within the 200-foot radius can result in the
permit being revoked.
Those speaking against the ordinance’s passage were concerned about
insurance and dogs getting loose.
Others spoke about the possible negative effect on property values,
while most felt very strongly a dog-rescue service did not belong in a
residential area.
They argued the ordinance would set a precedent for other city
neighborhoods, and how that would be a bad thing, instead of a good
thing.
Council members Kathy Cochran and Marty Goss voted in favor of passage,
while Charles Townsend and Todd Hogan voted against it.
Patsy Black abstained because she is a Tamarack resident and had
previously adopted a dog from Hamilton.
Mayor Paul Eaton voted on the side of caution, killing the measure.
Hamilton immediately asked to take the issue to the voters in a
referendum.
Since December, Hamilton has found homes for more than 31 dogs that were
loose on the streets.
She made sure they received medical attention and were prevented from
reproducing.
To date, no one has ever been harmed by any dog under her care.
|