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Lindsey Griffin, owner of L.R. Griffin & Associates, Inc., a commercial landscaping company in Greenville, donated eight Crape Myrtles to the city of Washington to be planted between the former Maola Plant and the N.C. Estuarium. The planting of the shrubs at the specified location had been approved by the Washington City Council, but there were disagreements about whether Crape Myrtles are shrubs or trees.

“The idea was brought to the council as planting shrubs,” Washington City Manager Jim Smith said Wednesday. “It said shrubs in the minutes.”

The primary concern with the Crape Myrtles was their size.

“I started getting calls about trees being planted, not shrubs,” Smith said. “The things being planted, Crape Myrtles, are technically shrubs, but they grow to 30 feet. The ones we had delivered are already eight feet.”

One of those concerned was Washington Mayor Judy Meier Jennette. From the motion that the council approved, Jennette said she assumed that the shrubs would be much smaller.

“I just wanted to make sure that whatever was going down there was what we agreed on … in keeping with what we actually voted on,” Jennette said.

The planting of the shrubs, which was scheduled for Wednesday morning, was put on hold so that the Washington City Council could deliberate on the situation.

“I pulled the council together this afternoon,” Smith said.

There was some disagreement between council members during the deliberation.

“There was great debate between the council over whether they were trees or bushes,” Jennette said.

The issue was eventually resolved, according to Smith.

“The majority were fine with the shrubs,” Smith said.

The planting of the shrubs was approved, in part, because they were a “very generous donation,” according to Jennette.

“We decided that it was a great idea to accept them whether they were trees or bushes,” Jennette said. “I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth. I’m glad to accept the gift.”

Development between the former Maola Plant and the N.C. Estuarium has been a hot topic in Washington.

“Everyone’s always suspicious when the site gets touched,” Smith said.

Jennette reaffirmed Smith’s statement.

“I know it’s a very touchy situation down there,” Jennette said. “There’s a group of people that are very intense about getting certain things in place.”

Jennette was pleased with the new shrubs, but said she wants to make sure that any future work done to the area has the City Council’s approval.

“It’s just that I want to make sure we follow some rationale as we prepare the park area over there,” Jennette said.

The planting of the shrubs between the former Maola factory and the N.C. Estuarium was the second phase of a proposal that Griffin brought before the City Council. Griffin, who owns a commercial landscaping company, approached Jennette about making a significant donation to the waterfront.

“He approached me several months ago about donating some trees to the waterfront,” Jennette said. “He said that he would donate four trees if the city bought four.”

Griffin, a resident of Greenville and owner of “Lrg Time,” a houseboat permanently docked on the Washington Waterfront, said he was unimpressed by the small trees that lined the promenade.

“He really wanted to do something on the waterfront,” Jennette said. “He said ‘You really don’t notice the trees because they are so small’.”

After meeting with Jennette, Griffin spoke with Smith regarding his idea.

“He went to the city manager to make arrangements with Parks and Recreation,” Jennette said.

Plans were set in place for the waterfront trees after the Washington City Council approved their planting.

“The city bought four at $2,000 a piece, including transplanting and everything,” Jennette said.

Jennette was happy with the work done by Griffin on the waterfront.

“The trees look great; you can really notice them now,” Jennette said.

The trees formerly lining the promenade were moved to the Washington Veteran’s Park on Third Street.

Unlike the trees lining the Washington Waterfront, the eight Crape Myrtles were donated in full by Griffin. Bud Brooks, owner of Brooks Construction, and employees Johnny Ayers, Jimmy Shed, John Carson and Mike Woolard volunteered to transplant the shrubs.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors have concluded their first day of deliberations without a verdict at the trial of the stepfather accused of torturing and killing 7-year-old Nixzmary (NIX’-mahr-ee) Brown. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn and will resume Friday. Prosecutors allege Cesar Rodriguez killed the starving child in January 2006 after catching her stealing yogurt and tried to blame the girl’s mother. A defense lawyer described Nixzmary as unruly and cast the defendant as an overwhelmed family man. The lawyer said Rodriguez beat the girl but that her mother was the killer. Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges. If convicted he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. %26copy; 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

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Tags: deliberation, prosecutors
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WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered its projection for economic growth this year, citing damage from the double blows of a housing slump and credit crunch.

The Fed said it also expects higher unemployment and inflation.

The updated forecasts come at a time Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are concerned the economy could continue to weaken, even after their aggressive interest-rate cuts in January, according to minutes of those private deliberations released Wednesday.

“With no signs of stabilization in the housing sector and with financial conditions not yet stabilized, the committee agreed that downside risks to growth would remain even after this action,” according to minutes of the Fed’s Jan. 29-30 closed-door meeting.

The Fed at that session voted to cut a key interest rate by one-half percentage point to 3 percent. Just eight days earlier, the Fed, in an emergency session, slashed its rate by a rare three-quarters percentage point. The two rate cuts together marked the most dramatic rate reductions in a single month by the Fed in a quarter century.

Under its new economic forecast, the Fed said that it now believes the gross domestic product will grow between 1.3 percent and 2 percent this year. That’s lower than a previous Fed forecast for growth, which at that time was estimated to be between 1.8 percent and 2.5 percent.
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Tags: deliberation
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Latter-day Saints take comfort in the fact that their church is never without leadership, even when the presiding First Presidency is dissolved upon the death of the president.

Leadership automatically shifts to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a move formally termed “apostolic interregnum.” That group discusses and takes the necessary action to designate the new church president following the funeral of the former president. Though speculation about a successor is rampant following such a death, the pattern of succession has been established historically.

The subject was addressed in detail by the church in the August 1996 issue of its official publication, the Ensign magazine, in an article titled, “The Kingdom of God Will Roll On: Succession in the First Presidency.”

During the time the Quorum of the Twelve presides over the church after the death of a president, “the President of the Twelve … is as much the President of the Church in function and authority as when he becomes sustained as such in a newly organized First Presidency,” it says.

It quotes former church President Joseph Fielding Smith. “There is no mystery about the choosing of the successor to the President of the Church,” he wrote in his book, “Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3.” “The Lord settled this a long time ago, and the senior apostle automatically becomes the presiding officer of the church, and he is so sustained by the Council of the Twelve.”
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Once the new president is ordained by the Quorum of the Twelve, a public announcement is made, and church members are given the chance to sustain their new prophet during the next session of LDS General Conference.

Such a procedure was not clearly spelled out in the early history of the church following the death of founder Joseph Smith but evolved over time through instructions to church leaders in the faith’s Doctrine and Covenants.

Today, “The beginning of the call of one to the President of the Church actually begins when he is called, ordained and set apart to become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,” former church President Harold B. Lee told church members during General Conference in April 1970. Each apostle “has given to him the priesthood authority necessary to hold every position in the Church, even to a position of presidency over the church if he were called by the presiding authority and sustained by a vote of a constituent assembly of membership of the church.”

In a talk delivered during the April 1994 general conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley %26#151; then first counselor in the First Presidency %26#151; referred to scriptures from the Doctrine %26 Covenants and other writings regarding succession the church.

He said Christ stands at the head of the church, “which bears his sacred name. He is watching over it. He is guiding it. Standing at the right hand of his father, he directs this work. His is the prerogative, the power, the option to call men in his way to high and sacred offices and to release them according to his will by calling them home. He is the master of life and death,” President Hinckley said.

The procedure for sustaining church officers is an “act of grave and serious importance, an act required under the revelation of the Lord,” he said, adding that the process for designating leadership is “peculiar to the Lord’s church.” He said there is “no jockeying for position, no campaigning to promote one’s virtues,” which may be contrasted with the world.

“The Lord’s way is quiet, it is a way of peace, it is without egotism or vanity or ambition. Under the Lord’s plan, those who have responsibility to select officers are governed by one overriding question. Whom would the Lord have? There is quiet and thoughtful deliberation. And there is much of prayer to receive the confirmation of the Holy Spirit that the choice is correct.”

Shortly after he became church president in 1995 following the death of President Howard W. Hunter, President Hinckley told Latter-day Saints during general conference in April about the procedure that took place in the Salt Lake Temple on Sunday, March 12, of that year:

“All of the living ordained apostles gathered in a spirit of fasting and prayer in the upper room of the temple. Here we sang a sacred hymn and prayed together. We partook of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, renewing in that sacred, symbolic testament our covenants and our relationship with Him who is our divine Redeemer.

“The presidency was then reorganized, following a precedent well established through generations past.”

Former church President Spencer W. Kimball also outlined the process of succession in an April 1970 general conference address, saying, “The moment life passes from a president of the church, a body of men become the composite leader %26#151; these men already seasoned with experience and training. The appointments have long been made, the authority given, the (priesthood) keys delivered.”

Tags: amp, cement, deliberation, rta
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