The Moore County Board of Commissioners won't have much time away from county business this week.

The commissioners are scheduled for a planning retreat all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday at Little River Golf Resort. Then on Friday, the board will hold a special meeting at 9:30 a.m. at the historic courthouse in Carthage to discuss a personnel matter. Most of this meeting will be closed to the public.

Budget priorities will be reviewed during the two-day retreat, to begin with breakfast at 7:30 both days. The tentative schedule calls for a series of presentations and discussions with the retreat to end late Wednesday afternoon. By that time they're expected to summarize goals for the 2007-08 fiscal year.

It is expected that the commissioners will meet with the Board of Education for dinner at Little River Tuesday night.

GOP WOMEN -- Paul Dorda, executive director for the BRAC Regional Task Force, will be guest speaker when the Moore Republican Women resume their monthly meetings Monday, Feb. 5, at the Pinehurst Member's Club.

BRAC is the base realignment commission responsible for changes in military installations across the country. The program is expected to bring additional growth to areas surrounding Fort Bragg.

A 1971 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Dorda is a retired brigadier general who flew fighter aircraft during most of his career, logging more than 3,700 hours with 20 combat sorties over Iraq. He was the wing commander at Pope Air Force Base in 1996-97. His last assignment was deputy director for Air and Space Operations at Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, at the Pentagon.

After retirement in 2000, he served as chief operations officer for the Festival of Flight.

The social period will begin at 11:30 a.m. with lunch served at noon. Reservations must be called to Donna Bartrip at 215-5922 no later than Wednesday, Jan. 31. Nonmembers can also attend, and anyone needing transportation is asked to call Bartrip. Cost of the luncheon is $15.

A spokesperson says new members are welcome. Interested persons can call Linda Jarrett at 295-8837 for more information.

DSS -- The Moore County Board of Social Services will continue plans to find a new director at the Wednesday, Jan. 31, meeting.

The board will convene at 3 p.m. in the board room at the Carriage Oaks DSS facility. On the agenda is discussion of a selection committee, an interview date and location.

At the end of the regular agenda, the board will go into closed session to discuss a personnel matter. Otherwise the meeting is open to the public.

TARPO PLAN -- Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization's (TARPO) 2007-2008 planning work program report will be available for review and comment at the Moore County Planning Department from Monday, Jan. 29, through Friday, Feb. 9.

The report was prepared by the Triangle J Council of Governments, the lead planning agency for TARPO. An instructional sheet may also be obtained for submission of comments for the report to TARPO.

The Planning Department is located in the Carriage Oaks complex on Monroe Street in Carthage. Hours for inspection of the report are 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

TARPO conducts rural transportation planning for Chatham, Lee, Moore and Orange counties and advises the N.C. Department of Transportation on rural transportation policies and programs.

BLACK -- Rep. Jim Black, former speaker of the state House of Representatives, says he will not seek another term in the House.

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, declined to run for a fifth term as speaker because of legal and ethical issues that plagued him through much of 2006.

During the 2003-2004 session he was co-speaker with former Rep. Richard Morgan, a Moore County Republican.

The Associated Press reported that Black and newly-elected Speaker Joe Hackney are still working on Black's responsibilities in the 2007-08 sessions.

Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, serves a district that includes one and a half precincts in Moore County.

Florence Gilkeson can be reached at 947-4962 or by e-mail at florence@thepilot.com.