Rocky Mount Town Council is proposing a change to the town's charter that would, in effect, put council members in charge of hiring department heads, a job that has traditionally been the responsibility of the town manager. The charter currently puts the hiring of only the town manager and town attorney in the hands of the council.

The obvious question is: Why does council want this change?

The obvious answer is: It's all about power.

This issue actually surfaced a couple of months ago when council "authorized" the town manager to hire an interim police chief. In fact, town council was chastised by one of its own members, as well as this newspaper, for taking such an action, which clearly was not in line with the charter.

Dr. Charles Bowman of Callaway has been working on new technology to make nuclear energy safer and more efficient for many years. He has jumped through countless hoops and, along with other experts, has reviewed the science behind the technology countless times.

A company, called Accelerator Driven Neutron Applications Corp. (ADNA,) was formed and the new technology was given a trademark name GEM*STAR (Green Energy Multiplier*Subcritical Technology for Alternative Reactors).

The science behind what the new technology does is quite complicated and difficult to explain in laymen's terms. However, the core of it is that the process to create a reaction that in turn produces enough heat to lead to the creation of electricity does not require the use of enriched uranium.