Star-bursts from the past
1981 - March
Was it true? Would Belvedere's water supply system become the property of the City of North Augusta in March, 1981. Rumors became fact after several meetings with owners of the Belvedere System and citizens of the independent little town known as Belvedere.
North Augusta Mayor Henry McKenney announced at a council meeting that there "would be a letter of intent to purchase the water system. He called this "a well-designed system which was sound and trouble free." McKenney continued it would "enhance fire protection in the area."
North Augusta and Water Distributors Inc. agreed on a price of $875,000, which the city would purchase through the issuance of revenue bonds. The first year the payment would be $125,000, followed by $115,000 for the next 13 years with the final payment being $37,000.
That was not the only bit of high finance. The Aiken County School Board sought a 50-mill tax hike by way of a referendum. This would be $ 7,275,000! They wanted 2.5 mills for raises for teachers, 15.6 mills would go to a 3-year maintenance fund, 5 mills would insure that all county schools would be air conditioned in three years. This plan had to go before the Legislative Delegation before going to the voters.
Wallace Stedman was appointed the city codes enforcement inspector, filling a vacancy when Ralph Bussey accepted employment in Myrtle Beach.
For a number of years the federal government had a program called Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA), in which local, county and state groups were eligible to participate. The act was being phased out and an announcement was made by the CETA Director of Aiken County that 97 jobs would no longer be funded. This affected some 34 employees in Aiken County while only four employees would be affected in North Augusta and one who was working in the Belvedere Fire District.
Department heads in Aiken quickly asked county council to fund these positions.
It was figured these 34 positions would cost more than $30,000 for the rest of the fiscal year.
George Nelson, a former member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said at a meeting he feared "the vagueness in the interpretation of such words as 'may' and 'should' in the subdivision regulations could lead developers into lawsuits." He explained the specific requirements were put in the existing regulations so developers would know exactly what was required.
Chairman Ted Thompson said the regulations were too restrictive and the commission was trying to ease up on the specifications.
The 1980 census ranked North Augusta the 16th largest city in South Carolina with the count being 13,451.
Sheriff Ralph Gunnells raided the third still since taking office in January. There were 2,200 gallons of mash found as well as 750 gallons of moonshine in giant cooking vats. The vats were fueled with propane.
Dr. Robert Paskel delighted Sam Woodring. He came to be the school superintendent from the sunshine state of Florida. Florida demanded compliance of an even more rigid Freedom of Information Act than South Carolina. Paskel told Sam he had no problems with these requirements, saying the only discussions allowed behind closed doors was collective bargaining. Even personnel deliberations are open in Florida, he explained.
