The Town of Davidson is accepting nominations through Oct. 1 for the G. Jackson Burney Community Service Award, which annually honors a local citizen whose unselfish service has improved the Davidson community. The award will be presented at a Town Hall ceremony on the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving. Continue Reading

The Town of Davidson is now accepting nominations for the G. Jackson Burney Community Service Award, which annually honors a local citizen whose unselfish service has improved the Davidson community. The deadline is Oct. 1 for the award, which will be presented at a Town Hall ceremony on the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving. Continue Reading

Leland Park, a longtime Davidson resident and retired Davidson College librarian who helped lead last year’s “Save the Library” campaign in town, will receive the town’s 2011 Jack Burney Community Service Award on Wednesday morning, Nov. 23. The 9 a.m. ceremony at Town Hall is open to the public and will include the award presentation and reception, with music by the North Mecklenburg Moravian Band.

The award is named for the late G. Jackson Burney, who served the town in planning and communications and other roles, and started the first town newsletter. Since 2004, it has honored Burney and those whose “unselfish service” benefits the Davidson community.

Leland Madison Park graduated from Davidson College in 1963, and the following year got his master’s degree from Emory University in Atlanta. For a year, he was a reference librarian at Charlotte Public Library, then did a two-year stint as a captain in the Army. He moved back to Davidson in 1967 to work as a reference librarian at the Davidson College Library, then went on to get a Ph.D. in library science from Florida State University in 1974. After a time as the college library’s assistant director, he was named director in 1975. He retired from the job 39 years later, in 2004.

Mr. Park was a member of the Davidson Library Task Force last year, helping to plan and carry out a fund-raising campaign that kept the branch on the Village Green funded during a county budget crisis. Working quietly behind the scenes, he personally sold dozens of the engraved bricks that the campaign used to raise funds.

“Leland is the very model of what this town is all about,” Davidson Commissioner Connie Wessner wrote in a nomination letter. “In a town full of characters, it is his depth of character that inspires and amazes.”

Downtown Manager Kim Fleming, who co-chaired the library fund-raising effort, added: “Leland Park truly lives his life for the service of others and this town which he loves so much. He seeks nothing in return, only the betterment of the places around him.”

He joins a long list of fellow Davidsonians who have been honored with the Burney Award. They include 2010 winner Ralph Quackenbush, a former downtown business owner and longtime local volunteer. Other past winners were Jane Ellithorpe; Scotty Nicholls; Baxter and John Fisher (of Fisher Farm fame); sisters Evelyn Carr and Annie Mildred Lowerey; Bill Mayhew, a former commissioner and postmaster; and John and Paula Kelton.

RELATED LINKS

See Brenda Barger’s Nov. 17, 2011, Around Davidson column with more about his award.

Read coverage of previous award winners on DavidsonNews.net, under the Jack Burney Award tag.

See a full list of previous winners on the Town of Davidson website.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Leland Park also has been a longtime friend of DavidsonNews.net was one of the first readers to provide financial support through voluntary subscription payments. Thanks Leland, and congratulations.]

The Town of Davidson is accepting nominations through Oct. 1 for the G. Jackson Burney Community Service Award. The Award honors the late Mr. Burney and those who improve the Davidson community through unselfish service. The annual award is presented each November at a community event at Town Hall the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving. Continue Reading

N.C. Center for Nonprofits
Sammy Sherrill and his mother needed a place to live in their hometown of Davidson. Rent was rising fast. When the Davidson Housing Coalition helped him find a house on Sloan Street, Mr. Sherrill said, “I didn’t just get a rental house, I joined a family. The DHC people watched out for me and my mom, and took care of us.”

Years later, he took the organization’s financial management class and qualified to move with his two sons into a brand new, two-bedroom unit in the Creekside Corners duplexes. A 10-year employee in Ingersoll-Rand’s shipping and receiving department, Mr. Sherrill said the reduced DHC rent allows him and his boys “to keep our heads above water.” Continue Reading

Updated Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
Eric Hardy is stepping down after 2 1/2 years as the Town of Davidson’s first finance director to become the City of Asheville’s controller. Meanwhile, the town has set an Oct. 1 deadline for nominations for the 2011 Jack Burney community service award and is also seeking applicants for volunteer seats on town boards and committees. Continue Reading

The Town of Davidson this January will start another session of its popular “Civics 101,” a free 7-week course on how things work in local government. Also, on the Town Hall calendar: Ralph Quackenbush will receive the annual Jack Burney community service award at a ceremony Nov. 24. And Davidson’s Town Board and staff are planning another in their series of “Commissioner Chats” on Nov. 30. Meanwhile, commissioner Margo Williams recently was invited to a national “inclusionary housing” conference in Washington, D.C. Continue Reading

Town board neighborhood chats continue Wednesday & Thursday.

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson Town Board members have been holding neighborhood meetings with residents across town over the past two weeks, discussing everything from streets and sidewalks to trash and recycling to the tight town budget. They’ve also used these informal “Commissioner Chats” to make a pitch for the MI-Connection communications system, imploring residents to take a fresh look at the town-owned TV, telephone and internet service that was upgraded last year.

Growth at MI-Connection has been disappointing since Davidson and Mooresville bought it three years ago. But officials now have a clear goal: selling 4,500 new “triple plays” – a combination of TV, telephone and internet. They say that will help the system break even and keep it from being a drag on the towns’ budgets.

The neighborhood meetings continue this week in River Run and the St. Alban’s neighborhood. (See schedule at the end of this article.) Continue Reading