Briefly
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on July 2, 2004 1:55 PM
Light agenda
The Goldsboro City Council will have a light agenda for Tuesday's meeting.
George Wood is scheduled to speak to the board about a need for a volunteer handicap parking team to assist in identifying violators who misuse handicapped parking.
The council will also be asked to decide whether to grant a special use permit to Kathy Woodard for property on the north side of east Ash Street between Piedmont Airline Road and Oak Forest Road. Ms. Woodard would like to expand an office, which is a nonconforming use, in the residential zone.
The meeting will be held Tuesday because of the July 4 holiday, and will take place at 7 p.m. in City Hall.
916th awards
Two members of the 916th Logistics Readiness Squadron have won Air Force-level awards.
Master Sgt. James Walton is this year's top fuels senior non-commissioned officer and Tech. Sgt. David Ramirez is the transportation non-commissioned officer of the year.
Walton was honored for his work while deployed with a small detachment of the 916th Logistics Readiness Squadron's fuels specialists to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Walton was in charge of more than 30 fuels technicians from around the Air Force. During the deployment, they issued more than 38 million pounds of fuel to aircraft of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing and maintained a daily average of 100 aircraft refuelings, issuing about 318,000 pounds of fuel every day.
Ramirez was deployed to Moron Air Base, Spain, on a two-week expeditionary combat support tour. He scheduled more than 9,000 vehicles dispatches, to arrange movement of more than 80,000 passengers and over 2,000 tons of personal and mobility baggage. He also volunteered with youth activities for children of people assigned permanently to the base and used his fluent Spanish to help deployed members communicate with local contractors.
The 916th Logistics Readiness Squadron is part of the 916th Air Refueling Wing on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Change of command
Maj. Kevin Umbaugh assumed command of the 4th Equipment Maintenance Squadron from Lt. Col. Kevin Fitch in a ceremony Monday. Umbaugh comes to Seymour Johnson from Langley Air Force Base, Va., where he was the commander of the 1st Maintenance Operations Squadron.
Travel advisory
Most work zones along interstate and U.S. routes across the state will be inactive during the July 4th holiday from today through Monday.
However, while planning your holiday trip, watch for lane closings or detours in the following areas:
*I-85/I-40 in Alamance County: At mile marker 140, the left inside lane is closed in both directions. Three of four lanes will remain open. Expected backups are less than one mile.
*I-77 in Mecklenburg County: Left lane closed in northbound direction from LaSalle Street to I-85. Three of four existing lanes will remain open.
*I-85 in Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties: Off-ramp from I-85 southbound to City Boulevard is closed. Closure is signed at the site.
*I-485 at I-85 in Mecklenburg County: Outside right lane closed in each direction from mile marker 29 to 31. Three of four existing lanes will remain open.
*U.S. 17 in Onslow County: South of Jacksonville and N.C. 24 East possible lane closures due to the construction of the Jacksonville Bypass.
*U.S. 421/I-40 Business in Forsyth County: From U.S. 52 East to U.S.158, east and westbound lanes reduced to one lane.
*N.C. 751 in Wake County: The N.C. 751 on-ramp to I-40 West is currently closed and will remained closed during the July 4th holiday.
Bloodmobile
The Wayne County Chapter of the American Red Cross will have a Bloodmobile on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Berkeley Mall. Donors will receive a free Red Cross T-shirt.