A 2-cent tax increase is listed in County Manager Gary Page's proposed 2000-2001 budget. This would raise the county's property tax rate from 52 to 54 cents per $100 valuation. Each penny equals about $330,000, Page said. The total proposed budget is $66.8 million. The hike would mean that a resident owning $100,000 worth of property would pay $540 on next year's tax bill, compared to $520 paid this year. "The main reason for our tax increase is to meet the interest payments for construction on four new middle schools," Page said in his budget statement. The local costs of the schools is $24 million, but the county is looking at borrowing $25 million to have extra money for contingencies. The total cost of the schools is $46 million but the Wilkes Board of Education has $8 million available in local funds and $14 million available from state bond money.

   Page had estimated a 4- to 5-cent tax increase to pay for the schools, but chose to spread the increase out over several years, he said. Aside from the school construction, the Wilkes County Board of Education would receive a $9.3 million appropriation in the proposal. Wilkes Community College represents another large line item with a $2.1 million appropriation, according to Page's proposal. The Wilkes County Sheriff's Department would receive $2.4 million, an increase of about $221,000. Page also recommends a four-percent salary increase for full-time employees. Last year, commissioners trimmed 1-cent from a proposed 3-cent tax increase when they approved this year's budget. In 1998-1999 the tax rate was 50 cents.

   On a balmy Friday night, drivers slowed their vehicles as they looked up at Christmas lights hanging along Main Street in Wilkesboro. That's right. Christmas lights in May. The reason is simple, says Wilkesboro Town Manager Ken Noland. "We're trying to bring different samples in. We have a committee charged with bringing a new decoration theme to the town board." Noland said several town residents and business owners have expressed a desire for new lights. "I think people are looking for a change," he said. "We've had a lot of requests that we do something different with the Christmas lights this year." After hearing the concerns about the old decorations, the town board formed a committee made up of residents and downtown business people, Noland said. For the last few years, Wilkesboro had brought in live Christmas trees and decorated them with multi-colored lights. Other decorations have included "Season's Greetings" flags at-tached to light polls along Main Street.

   Superior Court Judge A. Moses Massey denied a motion from a Wilkes man requesting that wooden plaques engraved with the Ten Commandments be removed from county buildings. Massey made his ruling in Wilkes Superior Court shortly after noon Tuesday. He said that since the plaques will soon be replaced with historic displays, the matter would be "moot." Lance Teague, 35, of Moravian Falls, who filed a lawsuit against the county stating his First Amendment rights are violated by the plaques, sat and quietly listened as Massey made his ruling. American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Attorney George Daly argued that the display of the plaques is unconstitutional. Citing other cases, Daly said, "This case is clinched and cinched by the U.S. Supreme Court." Although the plaques will come down when the county commissioners approve the historic display, Daly said his client would likely fight that, too. County Attorney Tony Triplett argued that the plaques would likely be coming down "in a matter of days" when the historic display is approved. Daly said "irreparable harm" comes if a person's individual freedoms are denied, "for even a minimal period or time," Daly said. Teague, a Zen Buddhist, filed the lawsuit in Wilkes Superior Court on April 17. The suit claims that Teague's Constitutional rights, outlined in the First and Fourteenth amendments, have been violated.

The suit asks that the plaques be removed and that the county pay Teague's legal fees. The ACLU sponsors the litigation. Teague had contacted the ACLU in February. During a commissioners' meeting later that month, Teague asked the board to display The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism alongside the Ten Commandment plaques. Commissioners, facing a meeting room filled with Christian supporters of the plaques, made no reply to his requests. Daly read from the minutes of that meeting during his arguments. He stated that Commissioner Chairman Robert Handy praised a subsequent speech made by a Baptist church deacon. He said Handy's and other commissioners' apparent support of the deacon's comments showed that their intent in hanging the plaques was religious. The lawsuit outlined the commissioners' action in regard to the plaques. It stated that in September, "without taking any public or formal action" the board authorized the purchase of five wooden plaques bearing the carved text of the Ten Commandments. The suit went on to state, "These plaques cost $127.20 each, or a total of $636. The Defendant (Wilkes County) paid for these plaques with public funds on or about Oct. 6 1999." Since then, the plaques have been displayed in the Commissioners' Meeting Room in the County Office Building and in courtrooms at the new Wilkes County Courthouse.