By Mike Barnhardt
Enterprise Record

Davie County’s veterans service office will be open full time.
Although county commissioners stopped short of making the job of veteran’s service officer full time, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) stepped in to make sure the office is manned in the hours the officer is not on duty.
Commissioners unanimously approved increasing the job to 30 hours per week, and Michele L. Colpaert, national area supervisor with the DAV, said trained volunteers with that group will work the additional 10 hours.
Ronnie Cox of Mocksville thanked the commissioners. “You showed that you do support our veterans,” he said. “I know what’s needed in Davie County. We need a full-time service officer.”
World War II prisoner of war Harold Frank urged the commissioners to make the job full time. “Ya’ll can find the money for a veterans service officer. You can find the money for everybody else.”
The vote came after a presentation from Timothy Wipperman, North Carolina’s assistant secretary for veterans affairs. Commissioners had asked county staff into looking into the possibility of sharing a job with the state office, with the employee based in Davie County.
Although those negotiations will continue, Wipperman’s comments dealt more with state issues than local issues. He said that employee would be in Davie at least two days a week, depending on the need.
His comments brought more from commissioners, who said they are only concerned about services in Davie County. They were also concerned about the agreement taking months, maybe a year to become final …