BY RACHEL DOVE
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Martin County Schools Superintendent Larry James said he made the call to send two buses to Lawrence County to shuttle folks from parking areas to the fairgrounds last week.

“I agreed to the request,” James said Tuesday regarding questions raised after Lawrence County BOE chairman Heath Preston took to social media on the subject.

James said he received a call Friday from Lawrence County School District transportation director Rick Blackburn.

“He was in a bind, said their board declined the use of buses to transport county fair attendees from parking areas to the fairgrounds,” James said. “Since some are a little far for some people to walk, he was trying to come up with an alternative solution and was basically running out of time. He asked if we would send two buses and drivers on Saturday. He said the drivers’ hourly wage and fuel cost would be covered.”

James said he was trying to be a “good neighbor.”

“Since Mr. Blackburn was the transportation director for the BOE, I thought this was a request from the school board,” said James. “Apparently, I assumed wrong, but that’s how I interpreted it at the time.”

James was unaware of any issue with loaning buses.

Preston says in his Facebook post that the Lawrence County BOE voted not to lend buses to the county fair due to district policy, not politics. He cited the policy: “The Board will not grant, lease, or lend school vehicles to groups or organizations that are not part of the school program.”

“We’ve used our buses to transport donations to locations within the state in natural disasters, such as when the tornadoes devastated part of our state,” said James. “Right now, we are gathering supplies to go to the counties impacted by the recent flash flooding. We step up when needed and are proud to help when we can…There was nothing wrong with us providing a couple of buses.”