Randolph County gifted Charters of Freedom setting

ASHEBORO — Randolph County will be getting its own copies of the U.S. Charters of Freedom.

At the Randolph County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday, the board accepted the gift of a permanent Charters of Freedom setting from Foundation Forward, a North Carolina nonprofit.

The setting will house displays of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution.

“We have an organization that has already produced and constructed 60 settings in North Carolina counties,” said Ron Lewis, who was representing Foundation Forward. “Our goal by the end of 2026 is to have all 100 counties having their own Charters of Freedom.”

The county’s preliminary plan is to erect the display behind the courthouse building.

“There’s a wide-open, beautiful space that is level to the existing sidewalk, easy to get power to the backside of the setting,” county manager Zeb Holden said.

In addition, the board was in favor of an approximately $10,000 appropriation for upscaling around the display including a concrete pad for accessibility, lighting and landscaping.

Foundation Freedom has its own crew that will erect the setting and the plan is to be done before the semiquincentennial celebrations in 2026.

“I think it is particularly timely given the America 250 celebrations that will be taking place as we celebrate the freedoms that are ours,” commissioner Hope Haywood said.

The board also approved a change to its animal control ordinances to add additional mechanisms of response for animal control officers.

The change would allow officers to pick up and hold animals for certain time periods and if the overall problems are not addressed by the owners, then they may have to give up the rights to the animals.

“The thing about animals is that they’re not like people,” said Jonathan Moody, animal services director. “We can’t just pick them up and take them to jail for breaking the law.”

Moody said the biggest problem that this change is looking to address is dogs running loose because they can be aggressive and pose risks to citizens and especially children.

The board then approved a transfer of $750,000 from the Randolph County School System Board of Education’s local current expense fund to its capital outlay fund for a cleanup project at Trinity High School.

The board also approved a change to its holiday accrual policy for deputy sheriffs and detention officers who work 12-hour shifts to align them with other emergency response employees.

“Currently, these employees receive 12 hours when they work on a holiday,” said Steven Nunn, a colonel with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office. “But when they’re off, they only accrue eight hours. There’s a little bit of a disparity in the Randolph County policy and other emergency response employees already receive the hours whether they work or not.”

The Randolph County Board of Commissioners will next meet Dec. 1.