Folks in Tobaccoville like things the way they are.
That was the message that Dave Plyler, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, heard as commissioners met yesterday morning with members of the Tobaccoville council.
Still, Plyler said, it's good for the board to get out and hear the local concerns.
Tobaccoville was the board's first stop on what it's calling its "listening tour" -- a series of morning meetings that will take place about once a month in different parts of the county.
Next up are Rural Hall on Nov. 12 and Clemmons on Dec. 10.
"It is important to find out what the communities are thinking," Plyler said. "People in the past have asked why haven't we seen you since the election."
Tobaccoville Mayor Keith Snow said that although law enforcement is the top concern in the village, Tobaccoville can't afford to pay for dedicated sheriff's deputies to patrol the area as some smaller towns do.
Tobaccoville does provide the sheriff's office with a room that deputies can use when they are in the village, and it wants to keep that arrangement.
Village officials expressed some concern that the county might someday try to impose a charge to the town in order for deputies to include it in their patrols.
Tobaccoville can't afford to pay for a deputy because it would take a 6-cent tax increase -- more than double Tobaccoville's current rate of 5 cents for every $100 of property valuation, officials said.
"Tobaccoville is small," Snow said, "but it is the community we love. It has a low tax rate, and we want to keep it that way."
Officials were pleased that plans for a firing range in the northwest part of the county have been refined so that an indoor range would handle most training needs. Snow said that people in Tobaccoville didn't like an earlier plan for an outdoor range that he said would be too close to the town park.
Council Member Mark Baker -- who opened the meeting with a prayer that mentioned Jesus -- told commissioners that he hopes that they will prevail in a lawsuit challenging the county's prayer policies, which allow sectarian references in prayers before board meetings. A court will hear oral arguments in the lawsuit on Oct. 14.
"If you guys lose or give in, they are going to come after little towns such as ourselves," Baker said.
■ Wesley Young can be reached at 727-7369 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com.
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