A quiet start to this Friday’s meeting, as Joy was otherwise engaged and the piano was silent. A good time to remember past masters (“mistresses” sounds misleading, somehow) of the ivories Rose Patterson (come back Rose, when you get life sorted out, post-Hassell), and Pearl Humble (despite her delicate names, the Iron Maiden of the Piano). Few of those of us who grew up in Asheboro in the 1960s could avoid the three local empresses of the keyboards: Miss Swaim (did anyone ever dare call her ‘Louise’?), Jessie Williamson (who lived on Shamrock and catered to that side of town), and Pearl Humble, who not controlled both the piano and the organ each Sunday at First Baptist Church but serenaded both the Rotary and the Kiwanis clubs. Pearl started out teaching music at Franklinville School in the 1930s, living in the hotel for single teachers called the “Teacherage,” and giving piano lessons on the side. Untold hordes of grade schoolers stumbling along the path toward musical literacy (including Your Scribe) passed through her house on Park Street, conveniently located halfway between Park Street School on the north, and the Junior High and High School on the south. So provide your own musical accompaniment, and we’ll start the meeting.
Your Scribe started things off with the Four Way Test, already being present on the High Table as the sole representative of the Club Bulletin Committee. [As this season’s winner of Survivor: Tar Wheel, I’d like to point out that the prize not only ISN’T a million dollars, it actually costs something in time and effort to get this baby birthed each week, or quadrennially, depending; and it sure would be nice if some more writers would buddy up to the edge of the cliff with me.]
Phil Shore took over the prayer, and steered us Toward the Light. H. R. Gallimore introduced guests Candice Garrett, with James Gouty; Jennifer Smith, with Michael; Susan Milner and Maynard Reid of the Randolph Club (Sheriff Reid travelling with Captain Mark Brady, who was outed by HR as packing heat in the meeting so the High Sheriff didn’t have to).
What may be our last official AHS Student Guests for this school year were James Anthony Duncan Jr., and Rebecca Woodcock. Anthony lives with his Great-grandmother Lera Flowers; he plays drums in the band and in his “free” time. He plans to attend NCSU and study architecture, after which he’d like to live in New York City. Rebecca is the daughter of Richard and Janet Woodcock, and plans to attend UNC-G, studying hospitality and tourism with a minor in business, and wants to become and “Event Planner” here in the Triad.
Prithi announced that H.R. Gallimore will assume the post of President of Asheboro Rotary come this July 1, in the stead of late, lamented Carole Gilliam. Kathy Homiller was officially next in line, but the impending arrival of her adopted daughter from Vietnam means that she’ll have more than enough responsibility for the next year, and will stay in the rotation for 2008-09. 
H.R. asked the club for its support, particularly supporting him in rapidly getting up to speed in the next month. He’ll be attending a special PETS course this week in Greensboro.
Owen George announced that Keith Crisco is in China on a Zoo Society tour, and that Owen’s Liberty-based newspaper has an article this week on Keith. Stan Beck received $1600 from the club over the past few weeks for Boys and Girls Club.
Vegetarian Times: you’ll hear people say a vegetarian diet is incomplete because it doesn’t supply enough protein. Prithi says this is a myth. People don’t really need to eat all 9 essential amino acids. Any deficiencies are made up for by the body’s ability to make certain enzymes and amino acids, and store most others. Eating a good balanced diet is all that is needed.
Your scribe introduced the program, Benjamin Briggs, the Chairman of the Guilford County Historic Properties Commission http://gcms0004.co.guilford.nc.us/departments/historic/home.htm and the Executive Director of Preservation Greensboro Incorporated http://www.downtowngreensboro.org/citylight/point.php?id=1090 based in the historic Blandwood Mansion http://www.blandwood.org/ . Benjamin graudated from NC State and has a Masters degree from Boston University; he is a good North Carolina Quaker, raised in High Point and attended the Westtown School in Pennsylvania. He lives in his ancestral 1843 home on Penny Road in High Point, and is the author of the soon-to-be-forthcoming book High Point Architecture.
Since we in Randolph County don’t have the benefit of any historic preservation organizations, Benjamin spoke to us about the value provided to Greensboro and Guilford County since 1980, when its joint city-bounty historic properties commission was created. Guilford County has 84 officially-designated historic properties, known as “landmarks.” Applications are voluntary, and the carrot is that designated properties receive a 50% property tax deferral (comparable to the way Randolph County handles “farm-deferred” taxes). The stick is that listed properties are monitored, and if they are altered inappropriately or neglected, the deferred tax can be imposed. It is a LOCAL designation under N.C.G.S. 160A-400.1, et.seq.., and affects only county property taxes. It is NOT the National Register, which limits only local, state and federal government actions. Landmark properties are accepted based on cultural, historical, architectural and archaeological criteria, and represent a broad spectrum of social, cultural and historical values.
Historic Preservation promotes community pride and a sense of place, allowing citizens to become aware of their roots. The challenge is to protect the properties from conflicting uses, demolition by neglect, and changing land values. The tax deferral is designed to promote maintenance and upkeep of the Landmark, with changes approved (or not) through a design review process after the owner submits a “Certificate of Appropriateness.” If some future owner ever seeks to demolish the Landmark, the Commission has the ability to issue a Delay of Demolition stay for up to 365 days, in order to find alternatives. Since 1980 only two Guilford Landmarks have been lost: the Ireland House, in Greensboro, to fire; and the Benbow House, in Oak Ridge, to inappropriate alterations. For the others, designation has promoted reuse and improvement. For example, the Pinedale School in southeast Guilford, built in 1909, was abandoned and had a value of $40,000 when designated in 2004. After restoration, the 2007 property tax value today is $135,000- a 300% increase in value. In other projects such as Tomlinson Market Square in High Point and the L. Richardson Hospital and Wafco Mills in Greensboro, state and federal tax credits have extended the value of improvements [see http://www.nationaltrust.org/rehab_tax_credits/ ]. There is no evidence that Landmark designation affects marketability of the property, and lots of evidence that it directly results in higher sales prices. For more information on North Carolina historic properties commissions, see http://www.hpo.dcr.state.nc.us/localdes.htm and http://www.cmhpf.org/homehlcdisc.htm . For more preservation resources, see http://www.nationaltrust.org/ .
