The Mount Olive Town Board honored Steve and Gerri Grady, first and second from left, owners of Grady’s Barbecue Restaurant in Dudley; and Ed Cromartie, fifth from left, a former Mount Olive commissioner and a former Wayne County commissioner, for their service to the community during its Dec. 13 session. The awards were presented by town Commissioner Vicky Darden, third from left, and Mayor Kenny Talton, fourth from left. At left is Cromartie’s wife Hilda (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
For Vicky Darden serving on the Mount Olive Town Board is about much more than just setting policy and governing — it is about recognizing people who are making a difference in the community.
To that end, Darden has introduced a program at town board meetings honoring local residents for their public service.
During the board’s Dec. 13 meeting, commissioners honored a retired educator and a couple whose barbecue restaurant is a Wayne County landmark.
Honored were Steve and Gerri Grady, owners of Grady’s Barbecue in Dudley, and Ed Cromartie, a veteran educator and a former member of the Mount Olive Town Board and Wayne County Board of Commissioners.
“I want to thank everyone for being here tonight,” Darden said. “I have always said that I wanted to let the people know that there are a lot of people who need to be recognized.
“I want to ask the Gradys to come up and Mr. Ed Cromartie and his wife to come up to be recognized. They should be recognized, and there are a lot of people who are doing a lot of things in the town.”
Those people are deserving of recognition, she said.
“These people (Steve and Gerri Grady) have worked so hard and done so much in the community that we just want to thank you,” Darden said. “Thank God for you all.”
Mayor Kenny Talton read a framed letter of appreciation honoring the Gradys for 36 years of “outstanding service” to North Carolina by providing high-quality food at reasonable prices and great service.
“Barbecue man,” Talton said. “This gentleman here has served how many barbecue dinners to the Town of Mount Olive? It always has been good.
“The family puts so much love and time in what you do every day — not just what you have done for this town, but for the county. We appreciate everything that you do and continue to do for us.”
Grady joked that the restaurant was his and his wife’s “retirement job.”
“I would like to say this is a blessing,” Gerri Grady said. “We thank you so much. This is a great honor.
“We enjoy serving all of you.”
Grady’s Barbecue is located at 3096 Arrington Bridge Road, Dudley. The phone number is 919-735-7243.Its Facebook page is www.facebook.com/gradysbbqnc.
Cromartie is a Fayetteville native, and his wife, Hilda, both of whom are retired educators, have lived in Mount Olive since 1986.
“I want to thank God for Mr. Ed,” Darden said. “We want to thank God for the work you put in, and for your wife.”
Cromartie joked that a lot of what he had done was because his wife had “popped him” aside his head and telling him, “Ed, I want you to go do this or that.”
Cromartie praised the late D.J. Evans, his friend and former Wayne County commissioner, for his tireless efforts on behalf of the town’s Steele Memorial Library.
Another important project was the community support that helped build Mount Olive Family Medicine Center located across the street from him.
“Those are things I have to give her credit for,” he said.
Cromartie said he had some things to say that he did not think some people would appreciate.
“But if it rubs we wrong, I have got to say it,” he said.
He launched into what might be interpreted as a campaign speech blasting high-speed police chases and tax increases.
Cromartie said he is tired of seeing police chases that have killed people along the road.
He said that in 2010, when he was a town commissioner, the board voted to install cameras in town “to see what is happening.”
Unless someone has robbed a bank or kidnapped a child there is no need for high-speed chases, he said. Police have the cameras as well as radios so the chases need to stop, he stressed.
“The last thing I am going to say is that if you all are satisfied with a 10 cent increase in your taxes, don’t worry about calling me,” Cromartie said. “Don’t call me.
“If you are satisfied, don’t call me. Otherwise give me a call. Give me a call because I am dissatisfied with it. This board raised the taxes after they said they were not going to raise them.”
He thanked Darden for voting against the increase.
In reading the framed letter, Talton said it was to Cromartie, but that he thought it probably should be for Cromartie and his wife.
“For his service throughout the years as a commissioner and educator, Sunday school deacon and the list goes on, thank you so much for your service,” Talton remarked.
The mayor said Darden had encouraged him for years to add the recognition program to the town agenda.
He said he regrets not doing so earlier since some of those people who would have been honored have died.
As the meeting was wrapping up, commissioners noted that the tax rate they approved was a 3-cent increase, not 10 cents as Cromartie had said.
