A number of issues have come up over the past few weeks worthy of our collective perspective — as well as an attawaytogo or a shame on you.

ATTAWAYTOGO: We give huge kudos to the town of Elizabethtown for its plan to upgrade Tory Hole Park with a refurbished amphitheater and multi-phase plan for a boardwalk along the river. Originally planned in two phases, the Council approved an amendment to the contract with T.J.’s Marine Construction from $42,740 to $99,500 to complete all phases of the Tory Hole Boardwalk Nature Trail and Fishing Pier/Scenic Overlook — and it will all be completed in just 60 days, which is four months ahead of the original completion date.

ATTAWAYTOGO: Cynthia Singletary went before the Bladenboro Town Board this week to voice concerns about the pay scale for town police officers. It’s her concern that police officers start out at Bladenboro, get good experience and then leave for other law enforcement agencies. Turnover is rarely a good thing, and we think it would be more problematic within a police force. We applaud Singletary’s effort to get the trend stopped and hope the board members find a way to do better with police officer pay.

SHAME ON YOU: Dawson Singletary of Bladenboro recently brought together a number of folks connected with the town of Bladenboro, Bladen County, the county’s Soil and Water Conservation District, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services, Bryant Swamp Flood Control Corp, Boost the ‘Boro and area farmers to complain about what he sees as a lack of effort, decades of lying and a general disregard for storm debris cleanup and flooding in Bladenboro. After a lengthy back and forth, all involved said they would investigate the matter more in-depth, but the fly in the ointment seems to be Singletary himself — whose demands and refusal to allow work to be done on his property to alleviate the problem continue to stymie any effort.

ATTAWAYTOGO: last weekend, Elizabethtown Presbyterian Church held a fundraiser to assist with medical bills for East Bladen football coach Robby Priest, who is battling colon cancer. Folks turned out in drives from every nook and cranny of the county and beyond, and everyone involved deserves a tremendous round of applause. To say the event was a success would be like calling an iceberg an ice cube.

ATTAWAYTOGO: The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality recently filed an amended complaint and motion for preliminary injunctive relief against the Chemours Company in Bladen County Superior Court. Since the chemical plant all but refuses to admit to contaminating the region’s ground water and air, we applaud the DEQ’s action and hope it’s just the beginning of making the company fully take responsibility.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There are good and bad lists. Nobody wants to be on the latter.” (Anonymous)