Rocky Mount Telegram from Rocky Mount, North Carolina • 2

Rocky Mount Telegram Fage 2A Sunday December 6, Carolina Well projects on agenda in Spring Hope "He thought I was kidding, buV he found out I wasn't," Carlton5 said with a laugh. "They went iri there thinking they could wrap if-up in a month, and I knew different it took about six months." Carlton called Easley a "very Ms 7 PARADES From page 1A lighting, with people from all over the county taking part. Rev. David Jyson, a longtime resident, said, was indeed a great day for all of us. It was a time of unity that I hope doesn 't end with the parade.

We need to work together like this all the time." High school marching bands from Tarboro High School, North Edgecombe High School and SouthWest Edgecombe marched in the parade, playing familiar Christmas tunes for a waiting crowd of more than 500 who lined the streets surrounding the town hall, where the parade began. Vendors came from Tarboro, Rocky Mount, Pinetops and other areas as part of the collage of participants. "We hope to get started on next year Jan. 1," Perkins said. "This was a good start for us but we feel we can do a lot more if we start in time.

We want to give the college bands an opportunity to take part in our -celebration." Perkins gave God all the credit for their success. TALKS From page 1A when either through his body language or a wink or a nod, he would show that whatever position (we) wanted to take on a particular issue, the industry just wasn't going to take," he said. "Or he'd tell me out in the hall, 'Y'all are running into a brick wall on this one, and I'll be happy to watch you do it but that won't change the fact that it's a brick wall." Carlton said the two would sometimes slip out to lunch or dinner and talk through things in a less formal way. "We'd then be able to come back and work those things out," he said, "He constantly tested ideas on me, and if I knew it would be ridiculous and I could save everybody some time, I could just tell him, 'That's not going to Easley said one early experience was an especially fond memory. "I remember in the beginning, when the negotiations were still secret, and I'm up and walking around and stretching," Easley said.

"I'm on one side of the table and Judge Carlton's on the other and I remember bending over, trying to touch the floor to stretch out and this yellow pad comes sliding across the table. "Written on the pad it says, 'After the first six weeks, it gets And I'm thinking, 'Six? I want to be out of here in two." RADIO From page 1A "It will be my proposal that WTEB employ the needed staff as said Beal. "With the 'temporary' status the staff would not receive' benefits but I will propose that the pay scale remain what it is currently. do not believe I can justify opening the positions as full-time employees if WTEB is France gives N.C. World War I veteran tough negotiator." "-J "He represented two really the states that hadn't" sued and the tobacco-growing states," he said.

"That was pretty hard role because both groups are suspect with their-! peers." Carlton said the states that filed lawsuits partially viewed) the others who hadn't, including North Carolina, as seeking benefit from the legal work they had done. There was also someJ question as to whether Easiest being from a state, really wanted to go against-an industry provided sol many economic benefits to hisj "So he really had two obsta cles to overcome within his own-group," Carlton said. "They! would always suspect him of being too easy on us and he damn sure never was." fl Easley gave Carlton's negoti-j ating skills similarly high marksjO "He's a tough negotiator hisTJ style is to tell you what he'fci going to do and then dig hip heels in." he said. "Judge CarltbrP may beat you, but he'll do it faS't and square." medal to last "it Monchau from his wheelchair was surrounded by 100 people at the Lake Health Care Center. The crowd included his great grandchildren waiving little American flags for their "Pai Pa." His four surviving childreh' wiped back tears.

"I don't know what to thfnid about it," Watts said afterward; the heavy medal pinned to hi? chest. "It's just got me all buffa-1 loed," he said. "It's nice to bet honored, but so many other peo- pie have done! things just aV great." The French Embassy in Washington and the Department -of" Veterans Affairs set out to find, the soldiers after French Presi- dent Jacques Chirac told Presiy dent Clinton of the honor ict June. "The French government! wished to acknowledge thee extraordinary courage and self-" sacrifice of the Allied soldiers itf' a tangible way before the end Of-this century," Monchau said. 1 Piece Set Sot Whitakers looks at water-sewer By David Blount Sfcrt writer The Spring Hope Town Board hear an update from Green Engineering on rehabilitation projects for several town wells at its Tuesday meeting.

Contamination and age forced the town to rehabilitate one well and construct another to provide water for the town. Representatives from the engineering firm will discuss the Poplar Street well and the construction of another near N.C. 58 The commissioners will also discuss the inspection results from the town wastewater plant. Also on the agenda is the adoption of a resolution for the organizational funds totaling $183.32 as Spring Hope's share owed to the Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments. The meeting is open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m.

Board to seat new members By Austin Gelder Staff writer New members of the Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education will be sworn in at a 7 p.m. meeting Monday at the School Administration Building in Nashville. Cindy Berry and Kim Graham were elected in November to replace retiring members Chal Nunn and Edythe Tweedy. Vice Chairman Bob Jenkins will act as chairman at the meeting since Nunn is retiring. They will review construction plans for the new high school and renovations at Rocky Mount Senior High.

They're also expected to ask Rocky Mount city officials to continue giving the school system money for capital projects. The city had been funding portions of capital projects in compliance with Senate Bill 612. HIKER From page 1A of the trail last summer when she and her college-age son Dennis walked the 60-mile stretch from northern North Carolina to Damascus, Va. To prepare, she scanned piles of books and studied up on the best equipment. She rose early every morning, laced up her hiking boots and walked around for an hour before anyone else woke up.

"This was done at 5 a.m. so no one could see me. That way my neighbors didn't think I was crazy," she said. She sometimes walked another hour in the evenings and lifted weights at the YMCA. As the hike drew nearer, Lit-tke would carry her pack on her morning walks and hike at Medoc Mountain State Park on the weekends.

Shakedown hike Littke named the 60-mile stint a shakedown hike. "It was to know whether I really could do it, if it was what I was looking for," she said. She' carried a two-pound sleeping bag, a stove, a water purifier, a sleeping pad and a tent. Noodles, rice. Power Bars and Pop Tarts would be it for food.

Littke even cut off the handle of her toothbrush to lighten CHARLOTTE (AP) Eighty years later, the French government has not forgotten the sacri fice of Roy I Hunter Watts. Watts, at 99 believed to be North Carolina's last surviv ing World War I veteran to have fought in a Watts received that country's Legion of Honor in a ceremony Friday at the Charlotte retirement home where he lives. "The French have not forgotten the bravery of these young soldiers nor have they their decisive actions," French Consul General Jean-Paul Monchau said in giving France's highest honor to Watts. Watts is among 300 American veterans the French government is honoring this year with the medal for coming to France's aid during "The Great War." Watts, who listened quietly to 1 A Brittany Staton, 6, watches "I think things started to change for Princeville Jan. 1, 1996, when we had ministers from the community as well as other residents go in prayer on the steps of the town hall.

Things started working in a positive direction for us. We know we can do all things if we put God first. He has given us the leasing. But I want to emphasize that I do believe we can make it work for all of us, particularly the current staff. It is also my intention to use the WTEB staff for engineering, membership, underwriting, and administration." WRQM is faced with a choice that will affect the status of local regular town board meeting and offer help on grant applications to help fund water and sewer renovations.

Whitakers' water system will cost about $2.7 million to upgrade, and the town's water system is also in need of repair. The town has received federal and state assistance in the past to pay for improvements in the town, and officials are hoping She got her first taste of what she calls trail magic when wonderful things happen when they're least expected on the second day. They heard bears following them in the woods and decided to head into town. At the next road crossing, a pickup truck stopped and offered a ride. Son and mother jumped in the back.

"I didn't even know I could jump into a truck," Littke said. Mr. Goodbeer The driver blessed each of them with a cold beer, a luxury after two days of lukewarm water. "I'm not a beer drinker, but that was good," she said. The driver passed up his house by two miles to deliver the tired, hungry, dirty hikers to town.

Back on the trail, she found the solitude she sought but also made some new friends. "We met quite a few people. It's a community trail, and everybody is so friendly," she said. "When someone comes up, you just stop and talk for a while. If it takes an hour, so be it." One week and 60 miles" after her first step, Littke returned home knowing she was on the right track.

TelegramAnna Caudill Shriners in Pinetops staying power as a people and as a town." "We have a lot to be proud of in this town," Perkins said. "It's time we invited people to come over here and see what we're made of and what a legacy our ancestors left us." Tarboro will host its parade on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. public radio programming across the state. "We're going to keep the station local, but make it a part of a larger network," said Lane.

"We can't go wrong with either one (WUNC or WTEB). Whichever way we go, it will be an enormous improvement from what we have now." grants for more funding help for these projects. Other town business Monday night includes a planned meeting with state Commerce Department spokesman Tom Irving, who is expected to discuss Whitakers' strategic team organization. The group, made up of elected officials and townspeople, is designed to look at the Whitakers' future. She repainted her office and decorated it with maps, logos and pictures from the Appalachian Trail.

One poster on her wall reads, "Walk to live, live to walk." 'vv The dusty, gear-laden Littke in the pictures hardly resembles the well-groomed professional. She shares maps and pictures with students to inspire them to set and meet their own goals. Looking ahead Littke will start her next hike, a 544-mile section, on June 3. She's looking for a hiking partner, but if she can't find the right person she'll go on her own. Husband Terry will drop her off in Damascus and pick her up six weeks later.

He'll also mail refreshment gear for her to pick up at post offices along the way. Terry Littke can't go along because of a medical condition, but he said he's glad to lend a hand in his wife's adventure. "I think it's fantastic. I give her all the credit in the world," he said. Littke crams only the basics into her pack, but she does tote a journal which she plans to share with her sons.

"It's for them to see what their mom has done," she said. BAILEY'S The Coltorod Three By J. Eric Eckard Assistant news editor Whitakers officials are expected to get some assistance Monday night that might just help them add a new water and sewer system for the town. Representatives from the Wooten a Raleigh engineering and consulting firm, are scheduled to appear at the her pack. "Every ounce, counts," she said.

Those first few steps were almost enough to change her mind about the whole endeavor! The first steps brought her to rocky terrain that led toward the clouds. Littke' heart pumped loudly and her breath came hard and fast. "What was I doing here, how could I have even imagined I could embark on such a trip?" she wrote in her journal on that first day. Dennis, who had open-heart surgery ten years before, stood on the rocks above, commanding his mother to keep moving. "At the next road crossing I'm going to drop you off," he told her.

When the tears stopped, Littke regained control, got moving and tossed out those second thoughts. "Even though (Dennis) was harsh, it was his way of telling me, 'You're going to do she said. She realized the physical conditioning helped, but she needed to condition her mind, too. "It's a mental journey more than a physical, one," she said. "You don't have to be in great shape because within two or three weeks on the trail, you're going to be in good shape." Dave Roe Circulation director Keith Abbott Production director Marti Barnes Advertising director Rocky Mount Telegram RipWoodin Publisher JeffHerrin Editor Julie Howard Accounting manager Miss your paper? We hope not.

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