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Road. She does not see how 911 services could confuse this. They would like this road named <br />after their neighbor, a wonderful person wham they miss. She asked the Board of County <br />Commissioners to make this possible. <br />John Link said that there is a road naming process, but he does not know who in County <br />government would give the deadline of March 31St. He said that he could stop this deadline <br />tonight. He said that he would gladly work with the neighbors to capture Mr. Edwards' name in <br />some way. <br />Penny Flake said that it would be an honor to have the road named after him because <br />he worked very hard for the County. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he first met Ralph Edwards in 1986 when he was first <br />elected. He said that Mr. Edwards was one of the first voices in Orange County asking for toll <br />free calling in Orange County. He said that he attended Mr. Edwards' funeral and was <br />impressed about the simplicity of life that he carried with him -dressed in bib overalls and in a <br />simple casket. <br />Ms. Flake said that Radie Edwards, Ralph Edwards' son was here and is keeping up the <br />home place. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis noted that he lives on Franklin Road, not Franklin Street. <br />Pat Beyle, President of the APS Board of Directors, spoke about the upcoming Humane <br />Satiety of the United States evaluation. She applauded the County Commissioners' <br />commitment to the care of the animals and the APS. They are looking forward to the <br />evaluation. She said that if the evaluation is allowed to play out without intervention, it would be <br />money well spent. She said that we need to let HSUS do what they need to do and what the <br />County has contracted with them to do. She hopes the evaluation will give them valuable <br />information and not be impeded by a few outspoken adversaries. She made reference to a lot <br />of the allegations and the lawsuit against APS by Elliot Cramer and Judith Reitman. The lawsuit <br />must be answered by April 26t" and they will file their answer. She said that for the past nine <br />months, the APS has been distributing surveys to everyone who has been using their services. <br />The surveys have been kept at the front desk. She distributed the complete set of surveys that <br />had been returned. There has been a lot of positive feedback. <br />Ann Peterson is a resident of Chapel Hill far 20+ years and a lawyer. She is on the <br />Board of Directors of APS and the Personnel Chairman for APS. There have been a lot of <br />allegations made about APS Executive Director Laura Walters and her prior experience in <br />Arkansas and allegations against APS for negligence in hiring her. They usually Consider <br />personnel issues extremely confidential, but since this has been aired in the public recently, she <br />felt it was appropriate to tome to the Board and explain haw they went about hiring Laura <br />Walters, the current Executive Director, and the diligence they took in doing so. When Pat <br />Sanford resigned, they Conducted a nationwide search. They got 20-30 applications from all <br />over the country. The Personnel Committee narrowed it down to 10 and conducted phone <br />interviews. This was narrowed dawn to four applicants and they brought them all in. The entire <br />APS Board interviewed Bath one of the applicants individually. The entire board voted far <br />Laura Walters. She personally took her references and she called them and spoke to them. <br />She only got glowing reports an Laura Walters. This was the second time she was hired by <br />APS. Pat Sanford had hired her a year earlier as Development Officer. She worked far the <br />APS for 18 months before the allegations started by Elliot Cramer and Judith Reitman. Since <br />the allegations, she re-contacted all the people in Arkansas and was told that the allegations <br />were false and that these people have their own agendas. The APS was then sued by Elliott <br />Cramer and Judith Reitman and she took all of the articles in the newspapers and the <br />information in the lawsuit and she sent it to the people in Arkansas. She sent them to three <br />individuals that were on the board in Arkansas when Laura Walters worked there. She received <br />one response, which said that the allegations against Laura Walters were false and that the <br />