By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra!
In its last meeting (June 26) before giving way this month to an almost completely different panel, the Paris-Lamar County Health Board approved a pay increase for new administrator Rita Prestridge.
Gina Prestridge
Five of the six new members that will be sworn in later this month were invited into the executive session in which Prestridge’s raise was discussed.
After 45 minutes behind closed doors, the board emerged for a motion by Bill Strathern to raise the administrator’s salary to $51,500 per year, as an executive director. Dr. David Carpenter seconded the
motion, which carried 5-0.
Carpenter then made a motion, seconded by Brady Fisher, to reclassify Cheryl Johnson from a Clerk III to administrative assistant. That motion also carried unanimously.
Other board members present were board chairman Dr. Wally Kraft and Dr. Robert Moseley. Board members absent were Larry Reaves and Dr. Bert Strom.
Of the “old” board, only Strathern, who was appointed to the board last year, will be back. Most of the others had served on the committee for 25 years or more.
Those whose terms begin this month and run through June of 2015 and were present at the meeting were Dr. Keith House, Dr. William George, Kristi Martin, Dr. Rick Erickson and Dr. Mark Gibbons.
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Charles Richards Charles Richards moved to Paris in 2004 after retiring from a 40-year career in journalism – the last 26 years as a news writer and sports writer with The Associated Press in Dallas and Washington, D.C. In mid-2004, The Paris News coaxed him out of retirement, and he began covering the police, court and regional beat for The Paris News. Then in early 2005, he was switched to coverage of a sharply divided Paris City Council. He was appointed by the City Council in 2006 to the 12-member City Charter Review Commission, which extensively rewrote the outmoded document. His writing awards include two first-place awards in statewide competition for feature writing. The most recent was his 2005 story on a Paris doctor’s startling use of leeches in a successful attempt to re-attach a man’s severed ear. Over his career, Richards’ interview subjects include Alabama Gov. George Wallace, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, David Koresh, Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali and numerous other political and sports figures. He is an alumnus of Texas Tech, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He lives in Paris with his wife, Barbara, who is retired after 30 years as a teacher and high school counselor.
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