rocky mon t · 2020-03-01 · volume 109, no. 135 — $2.50 index residents weigh in on park plan...

www.rockymounttelegram.com Volume 109, No. 135 — $2.50

Index

Residents weigh in on park planBY WILLIAM F. WEST

Staff Writer

Rocky Mount resident Ellen Mat-thews goes to Battle Park once a week and walks two of her four dogs — and she loves the large, rugged and wood-ed recreational site on the north side of the Tar River.

“I think it’s beautiful in its natural state,” Matthews said on Thursday. “I think it shows a lot of geological fea-tures and a lot of trees.”

Matthews was one of many local residents who arrived at the Impe-rial Centre for the Arts and Sciences downtown for the first of two public input sessions hosted by the munici-pal Parks and Recreation Department.

The purpose is to gather informa-

tion for a master plan for the park, which needs renovating after years of heavy use.

As for what she believes should be done to the site, Matthews said, “I’m not interested in developing the park. I’m more interested in people using the park as it stands — and just straightening it up.”

She said she believes the three shel-ters need to be improved or destroyed because they are old.

“They’re used by the less desirable people that sometimes hang around the park,” she said.

She particularly appreciates well-preserved parks because she grew up in the Yorktown, Va., area, which is the home of a colonial nation-al historic park.

The Explore Nash County tourism website touts Battle Park’s land as the site of what was Rocky Mount’s first post office and touts the park’s terrain as the source behind the city’s name.

Local historian and genealogist Clyde Gallop said he believes Bat-tle Park is of the utmost importance to the city because of the site being where Rocky Mount was first estab-lished.

As for what he believes needs to be done to the park, Gallop said, “Well, they should leave it a lot like it is be-cause that park has got a uniqueness to it. I mean, you get there by the river, that trail is just such a most beautiful place.

Republicans vie for seat in Congress

BY AMELIA HARPERStaff Writer

Three Republican can-didates are vying in the primary election for the op-portunity to wrest the 1st Congressional District from Democratic control.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butter-field represents the district, which has been represented by Democrats for more than 130 years. But with district lines recently redrawn, Re-publicans see an opportu-nity to reclaim the district, which they say has suffered for too long.

“I researched all 13 con-gressional districts in North Carolina and realized that District 1 was in bad shape. This is a district with a 19.1 percent poverty rate and a 6.3 percent unemployment rate — the poorest district in the state, and some would argue the poorest district in

the nation,” said Ethan Baca, who is running in the Republican primary.

B a c a moved to North Caro-

lina from New Mexico five years ago and currently

Three run in primary

Nominations sought for area Hall of Fame

BY SPENCER CARNEYTelegram Correspondent

The Twin County Hall of Fame is accepting nomina-tions for inductees into the Class of 2020 until April 30.

“The original goal of the Hall of Fame, which re-mains true today,” said Chris Miller, founding president

and current board member, “was to celebrate the ac-complishments of people over a variety of fields from the Nash and Edgecombe area to preserve their ac-complishments and their history and use that as a basis to motivate our young

Early voting for primary wraps upBY AMELIA HARPER

Staff Writer

Early voting for the 2020 primary elections ended Saturday and local elec-tions boards are gearing up for the primary election on Tuesday.

This Primary Election Day likely will be a busy one as many residents have yet to cast their vote for presidential candidates, congressional seats, Gener-al Assembly seats and more local races.

As of 2 p.m. Saturday, 7,715 Nash County voters had taken part in one-stop early voting. This number is less than 12 percent of the number of total registered voters in Nash County, which is roughly 65,000.

The Nash County ear-ly voting site that saw the most action was the site in

Nashville, where more than 4,870 votes were cast. An-other 2,480 votes were cast at Braswell Memorial Li-

brary while 362 votes were cast at the Bailey location.

As of 2 p.m. Saturday, 3,119 Edgecombe County

residents had participated in early voting, roughly 9

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WILLIAM F. WEST/ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM

Clyde Gallop, right, talks with city Parks and Recreation Grant Administrator David Griffin on Thursday during a public input session to seek guidance for a master plan for Battle Park.

OPIOID

EPIDEMIC

ELECTION2020

NOTABLEneighbors

BACA NIX

SMITH

See REPUBLICANS, A5

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See PARK, A5

PHOTOS BY CALVIN ADKINS/SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM

Patrica Cotten casts a ballot Friday at Braswell Memorial Library.

Chantel Ranadette receives an ‘I voted’ sticker from poll worker Wyatt Phillips on Friday at Braswell Memorial Library.

See VOTING, A3

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rocky mon t · 2020-03-01 · volume 109, no. 135 — $2.50 index residents weigh in on park plan...

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