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aPril 2-8, 2025 Vol 47 No 14 | 1 Section | 6 Pages
fire, sheriff subjects of budget retreat
By CaROL BROOKs FreeLANCe WrIter cab1hp@gmail.com
The Jamestown Town Council and department heads held the second budget retreat on March 20 in the Civic Center, with a different format than previous years. Rather than considering all the projects and things the administration wants to do, then finding out there is not budget money available, this year they focused on specific items. “We’re looking for input from Council for a couple of major initiatives,” said Town Manager Matthew Johnson before introducing Chief Derek Carson who discussed the proposed fire tax increase by Pinecroft Sedgefield Fire Department. “Overall our plan has historically been to set a fire tax rate … and to move thru the next years without any increase,” Carson said. “What’s changed now are the pro-
COMPILed By nORMa B. dennIs and CaROL BROOKs shred and share The Sedgefield Woman’s Club will host a Shred and Share event April 5 from 9 a.m. to noon in the parking lot of the Greensboro Shrine Club, 5010 High Point Road, Greensboro. The event includes secure shredding services for personal documents and recycling of clean, dry Styrofoam materials. Donations of shelf-stable breakfast foods or monetary donations are welcome. Proceeds will benefit the David Wilson Food Pantry at Lutheran Church of Our Father and the Tiny House Community Development. sPeCial CounCil meetinG The Jamestown Town Council will hold a special meeting April 7 at 11 a.m. in the Civic Center at Town Hall. The meeting will consider awarding a contract to the lowest, responsive, responsible bidder for street resurfacing. The public is invited to attend. P&r meetinG The Jamestown Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee will meet April 7 at 6 p.m. in the Civic Center at Town Hall. The meeting will include election of chair and vice chair, general updates, consideration of recommended changes at Jamestown Park and Golf Course and project updates. The public is invited to attend.
jected revenue that we received and some budget shortfalls that we’ve encountered over the last year or so.” PSFD, like other county districts, relies on Guilford County property tax, motor vehicle, estimated sales tax and prior year residuals (fund balance) for revenue. PSFD district tax rate is a pass-thru for the Town of Jamestown, which sends quarterly payments that have been collected. The Town retains no funds. “Unknown to us, about January 2024 we started seeing our revenues weren’t coming in as predicted,” Carson said. These figures were the result of a budgeting error in how the motor vehicle tax revenue was calculated. Figures for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 (July 2023-June 2025) indicated a projected loss of revenue of $2.3 million for the fire districts in Guilford County. (See Jamestown News Feb. 26 for the complete story with a correction March 5.)
The fire departments were already struggling financially. The budgeting error means some departments will be unable to purchase new equipment, offer training, building upgrades and other items. Fire engines alone cost around $1 million each. Larger departments should feel the effect more than smaller ones. “In fiscal year 2024, Pinecroft-Sedgefield Fire Districts received $183,079 less than what was approved as a part of our adopted budget,” Carson said in February. “The three-year accumulated loss in revenue will be $1,096,968. Fiscal Year 2026 figures indicate a deficit in each revenue category, resulting in a loss of $658,705 in total revenue. Carson proposed a 3-cent fire tax increase for the upcoming fiscal year to $0.1672. This would increase the revenue by $197,103.82, still well below the revenue shortfall. There was no increase in 2024-25.
“This is the first time as fire chief I’ve had to come ask for an increase,” Carson said. He cited current development that is under construction as one reason for the increase. “We’re planning for growth in Jamestown. We have had the same rate for five years and intend to do this one for five years,” Carson added. He noted other fire districts are also asking for increases. “We’re going to budget for it,” Johnson said. “There’s no way around it,” said Councilmember Pam Burgess. “We need our fire department.”
Guilford County sheriff’s office The contract with the Sheriff’s Office was a topic at a 2024 budget meeting and a special July 9, 2024, Council meeting as well as the Jan. 23, 2025, budget meetsee BUdgeT, PAGe 2
Swanson offers serious message with humor sPrinG is BloominG Warmer temperatures, trees and flowers blooming and the sound of lawnmowers are all signs that spring has arrived. “Spring is Blooming” is the theme of the April 15 A Moment In Time meeting and the many spring-related activities for the afternoon will include an opportunity to plant flowers. This month’s lead sponsor is Griswold Home Care. Other sponsors include Jamestown United Methodist Church, Senior Resources of Guilford and HealthTeam Advantage. Designed for people with dementia and their care partners, A Moment In Time is a place to relax and enjoy games, crafts, snacks and friendly conversation. Meetings are held every third Tuesday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Jamestown United Methodist Church fellowship hall, 403 E. Main St. Park and enter at the front left side of the church. Look for the purple signs. Guests with wheelchairs or walkers may enter from the back under the portico. Reservations are requested but not required. For more information or to register, contact Laura Gulledge at 336-906-0430 or lauragulledge@gmail.com. Highlights of past meetings may be found at https://www.facebook. com/jumcmemorycafe. Have an event that you think needs to be included in About Town? Email Norma B. Dennis at ndworddesign@gmail.com or Carol Brooks at cab1hp@gmail.com
By nORMa B. dennIs FreeLANCe WrIter ndworddesign@gmail.com Kelly Swanson had a message to share and she did so with humor. In fact, her audience laughed almost constantly from her opening statement until the end of her talk when they sat quietly ... absorbing the message before awarding Swanson with a standing ovation. Swanson — comedian, motivational storyteller and author — was guest speaker at the March 21 Sedgefield Woman’s Club spring fundraiser. She and many of the guests wore crowns since the focus of her talk was princesses looking for their happily ever after. “Where I came from, every girl had the same dream, to become a princess,” Swanson said. “We knew how to because we had the book. Just about any book you picked up told you what you needed, snowy white skin, a little waist and perky Disney breasts. According to the book, once you looked like a princess, you needed to find a prince. All, of course, looked like the men on the cover of romance novels. “Then it’s all about the castle. The book doesn’t say we are going to be the only one to clean it. I only clean what can be seen — from the road.” Swanson admitted she never fit the fairytale or much of any
Photos by Norma B. Dennis
In keeping with the theme of the spring fundraiser, many of the guests wore crowns.
see sWansOn, PAGe 6
Best-selling author Benedict talks fictional interpretations
Talking to Marie Benedict is like talking to a long-time friend – one who knows some of the same things you do and one who likes to laugh like you do. But Benedict has another life that delves into historical documents, journals and places, uncovering some of the unheralded women of the past and giving them their overdue recognition in her many books. “My mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues,” Benedict said prior
to a meeting of the High Point Literary League on March 26. “These women are hiding in plain sight and waiting for us to find them. They did not deserve to be a footnote.” Her books are considered historical fictionalized biography. One such interpretation is what really happened to author Agatha Christie when she disappeared for 11 days in 1926. That puzzle remains unsolved. Fictionalized or not, Benedict makes the books as accurate as she can by doing in-depth research. “These are my fictional versions of these women. I never pretend these are biographies. I look at my research as that it’s the architecture of the story, the foundation, the roots and the pillars upon which the story hangs. But there are always shadows between the pillars, things I don’t
know, that the research does not contain. It’s what I hope is a logical extrapolation of the facts I do have and my understanding of the character,” she said. Benedict used her training as a litigator at two leading New York law firms to create these stories. She left the legal business after 10 years, a disgruntled lawyer who said those 10 years felt like 70 dog years. She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of “The Mitford Affair, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, Carnegie’s Maid” and the novella, “Agent 355.” She has written about women who were often overshadowed by the men in their lives, including Mileva Marić (“The Other Einstein,” 2016), Hedy Lamarr (“The Only Woman in the Room,” 2019), Clementine Churchill (“Lady Clementine,” 2020), Belle da Costa
“The Queens of Crime” is Benedict’s newest book. Greene (“The Personal Librarian,” 2021) and Rosalind Franklin (“Her Hidden Genius,” 2022). With VicPhotos courtesy Marie Benedict toria Christopher Murray, she co- author Marie Benedict spoke wrote the Good Morning America to the High Point Literary League at the High Point see BenedICT, PAGe 2 Country Club on March 26.
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By CaROL BROOKs FreeLANCe WrIter cab1hp@gmail.com