CMYK Day of Prayer for Education — and books Vance to write proposals for Golden LEAF Our Hometown, Page 2A
Emotional win for Hamlin at Pocono
From Page One, Page 3A
Sports, Page 1B TUESDAY, August 4, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 180
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
Sheriff expects arrest in Friday morning incident
Use feasibility study of former Vance manor OK’d
By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Painting the way
Thornton Library upgrade bid of $2.1 million well under estimate By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
Index
Today Warm
High: 94 Low: 67
were excited. “It’s just one more step to where we start putting the shovel in the ground,” Dodson said. “The citizens of Granville County are going to have a nice library,” Newton said. Voters in a November countywide referendum overwhelmingly supported an $8 million bond issue to upgrade the increasingly antiquated Thornton location at 210 Main St. in central Oxford, replace the town of Stovall’s branch with a larger one, replace the branch inside Vance-Granville Community College’s South Campus building with a larger, standalone structure and modernize the hand-me-down-looking interior of the branch at the Berea community. Terms of the referendum specified an increase of 2.5 cents per
$100 of assessed valuation. The commission in mid-June gave the go-ahead to having Storr Office Environments of Raleigh move the contents of Thornton Library into temporary quarters at 208 E. Industry Drive, which is the former 84 Lumber, so the expansion and renovation of the library building could begin. The cost will be $56,073. Dodson said the move started earlier in the day Monday, with the process expected to take approximately two weeks. “I think we’re supposed to turn the building over to them on Sept. 1,” Dodson said when asked when Resolute will start work on Thornton Library. Bill Burgin, the architect for improving the library system countywide, told the Dispatch Please see LIBRARY, page 3A
County buys land for Stovall library branch By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — With the stroke of a pen and a $50,000 payment, Wednesday Granville County will acquire a slightly more than one acre site for a future new Stovall library Hot branch. High: 95 The building will be constructed Low: 71 at the northeast corner of Rockwell Road and Durham Street, Details, 3A which is across from Stovall Medical Center and slantways across from Stovall Town Hall.
Deaths
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
City of Henderson public works employees William Terry, left, and Robert Alexander paint traffic markings on Chestnut Street near Montgomery Street Monday afternoon. The pair hope to be finished with the street today.
OXFORD — A nearly $2.1 million bid has been accepted by the Granville County Commission for the expansion and renovation of the more than 45-year-old Richard H. Thornton Library. The seven-man panel, in a quick unanimous vote led by ComPlease see SHOOTING, page 3A missioner Zelodis Jay on Monday evening, agreed to award the project to Resolute Building Co. of Chapel Hill for $2,089,300. Resolute was one of several companies to submit bids, with all Our Hometown . . . . . 2A of the bids being under what had Business & Farm. . . . 5A been an estimated cost of $2.75 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 8A million. Light Side . . . . . . . . . 9A County Chief Librarian Tresia Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-3B Dodson and County Library Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 4B Board Chairman Bobby Newton Classifieds. . . . . . . 5-7B afterward told the Dispatch they
Weather
50 cents
Five EDC members selected
Shooting, attempted burglary
Sheriff’s investigators planned to interview on Monday afternoon a Townsville man who was apparently shot more than once early Friday morning during a burglary attempt at his home in Vance County. “When you’ve bullets and (hospital) drugs in you, you don’t feel like talking,” Sheriff Peter White said Monday morning in reference to the 44-year-old victim, David Hargrove of 2697 Morgan Road. According to an investigation report, Frank Small, 43, of N.C. 39 North was in the Hargrove residence when the attempted burglary occurred about 3 a.m. on Friday, but was not injured. While Hargrove had talked to deputies closer to the time of the shooting, “that’s not the time to get accurate information,” the Sheriff added. “We don’t know by whom or why (Hargrove was shot),” White said, “but we expect to have an answer
“It’s an ideal location in my opinion,” Commissioner James Lumpkins, whose district includes Stovall, said just before leading the unanimous vote of the seven-man panel in favor of the purchase. The closing of the sale by the landowner, Peter Gumaer, is set for no later than Sept. 1. And the new structure will replace a small building just to the west at the northeast corner of the intersection of U.S. 15 and Rockwell.
Bill Burgin, of Salisbury and who is the architect for upgrading libraries countywide, told the Dispatch afterward that the next steps will be to start on the design phase on both the future new Stovall branch and the future new branch off N.C. 56 in the southern part of the county. Plans are already in place for the expansion and renovation of Thornton Library in Oxford. Contact the writer at bwest@hendersondispatch.com.
Bullock Mary B. Vaughan, 89 Durham Eddie Fields, 72 Henderson Mary P. Higgs, 78 Rosa M. Overby, 77 Alberta R. Rose, 92 Oxford Della K. Davis, 86 Melville H. Dorsey Jr., 45 Lois S. Vaughan, 86 Stem James B. Willette Jr., 68 Stovall Laverne G. Wilson, 73 Warrenton Jesse B. Martin, 92 Wise Thelma Davis, 88
Obituaries, 4A
Coming and going
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
A group of fall web worm caterpillars crawl along a stem on this pecan tree late Thursday evening. The whole branch of the tree was covered in caterpillars traveling in different directions.
Using ballots and a drawing process, Vance Commissioners ended up Monday night with applicant choices and terms for five of the County’s six seats on the reorganized Economic Development Commission. Those picked were: John Foster for three years; Thomas Church and Charles Teeter for two years; and Sam Watkins and Paul Harris for one year. The sixth seat, reserved for a County Commissioner, went to Terry Garrison, who is scheduled to serve for three years on the joint commission with the City of Henderson. Henderson City Council has already chosen Michael Rainey, one of its members, as well as Andrea Harris and James Kearney. After the commissioners’ meeting Monday night, County Manager Jerry Ayscue said he will determine from all of the new EDC members when will be a convenient time for them to hold their first session. Also Monday night, the Board of Commissioners approved the submission of applications for $2 million of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds and $1,536,396 of Qualified School Construction Bonds. The approvals are contingent upon further action by the commissioners prior to obligation of the funds. The Vance County Schools have already applied for the loans, which are interest-free. Also Monday night, the commissioners picked Entasis Design of Kannapolis as the apparent low Please see VANCE, page 3A
Drug activity complaints lead to arrests By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Two drug arrests were made at 830 Hughes St. on Friday after members of the Henderson Police Department’s Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant. The occupants — Brandon Cheek, 22, and Sophia Louise Cheek, 30 — were both charged with: • Possession of heroin. • Maintaining a dwelling for keeping controlled substance. • Possession of drug paraphernalia. Investigators said the suspects were taken into custody after several complaints of drug activity were received in the area of Hughes Street. Bonds were set at $8,000 for Sophia Louise Cheek and $5,000 for Brandon Cheek. A preliminary hearing on the charges was scheduled for Aug. 17 in Vance County District Court. Contact the writer at awheless@hendersondispatch.com.