CMYK Dispatch All-Area football team
Reaching toward Heaven
American Profile magazine
Sports, Page 1B
Faith, Page 1C
Inside Today SATURDAY, January 2, 2010
Volume XCVI, No. 2
(252) 436-2700
Grant OK’d for planning U.S. 1 sewer Commissioners to hear report on $40,000 funding By DAVID IRVINE Daily Dispatch Writer
In their meeting on Monday, the Vance County Board of Commissioners will hear a report that a Capacity Building Grant has been approved by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. The grant will provide $40,000 to conduct planning for a sewer project along U.S. 1 South. A match of $4,000 will be required. Nancy J. Smith is scheduled to represent the planned Henderson Collegiate Charter School, which has requested temporary use of land at 938 County Home Road adjacent to the former Vance Manor property as a temporary site for the school. Modular buildings would be placed on the property and used by the school until a permanent site for the school is available. The Vance County Properties Committee supports the request with certain conditions. County Manager Jerry Ayscue recommends that the commissioners approve leasing the property for three years at $1 per year. Other agenda items include: • Recognition of Charles Wilson as a community hero. • Presentation by Julie Reid of the Kerr-Tar Council of Governments of bids Please see GRANT, page 3A
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 6A Light Side . . . . . . . . . 7A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4C Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5C Classifieds. . . . . . . 6-7C
Weather Today Mostly sunny
High: 34 Low: 18
Sunday
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Financing GHS hospital upgrade Public comment due Monday on county borrowing $13.5 million By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — The Granville County Commission on Monday will hold a public hearing on a proposed contract for financing a substantial upgrade of the Granville Health System hospital in Oxford, but no vote is expected after the close of the comment period. County Finance Director
Michael Felts told the newspaper Thursday he is going to ask the commission to hold off taking any immediate action and to leave the public hearing open until the next commission meeting. The financing plan needs approval from the Local Government Commission (LGC), which is staffed by the state treasurer’s office and has helped cities with their finances since the Great Depression.
Felts said that a meeting is set for Wednesday with the LGC and that there are many available financing options. Felts said an example is the Build America Bonds part of the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the Obama administration’s economic stimulus program to boost the weak national economy. The purpose of Build America Bonds is to help repair and up-
grade infrastructure. And Felts said there are so many options that a meeting with the LGC could not have been set prior to Monday. Felts previously said the plan calls for the county to obtain approximately $13.5 million in bank loans to help finance the project, which includes expanding the emergency department, Please see GHS, page 3A
One last smoke
Daily Dispatch/Luke Horton
George Shelton, a cook at the Golden Corral in Henderson, enjoys a cigarette in the restaurant’s smoking section Friday. Starting today, smoking will be prohibited in certain public places, including restaurants and bars, throughout North Carolina.
N.C. smoking ban at restaurants, bars detailed By The Associated Press
Here are some key details about the ban on smoking in North Carolina’s bars and restaurants, which starts today. WHERE NOT TO SMOKE: All indoor areas of nearly every restaurant and bar in the state are covered by the ban. Smoking also is prohibited in enclosed areas of hotels and inns if the establishment prepares and serves food or drink. Places such as convenience stores and bowling alleys also are nonsmoking zones if the businesses comply with sanitation laws for eateries.
EXCEPTIONS: Outside restaurant or bar patios are exempt from the ban unless they have a roof and a wall or side coverings on all sides or all sides but one. Nonprofit private clubs that serve food or drink such as country clubs and those run by fraternal organizations like Kiwanis and Elks largely can permit smoking. Hotels and inns under the ban can still set aside 20 percent of their rooms for smokers. Cigar bars are exempt when they meet several requirements, as well as Hookah bars that neither provide food nor operate a bar.
ENFORCING THE RULE: Restaurants must post no-smoking signs, remove indoor ashtrays and tell people to extinguish their cigarettes or cigars. Customers who refuse to comply can face an infraction and pay a fine of up to $50. A business that chooses not to comply will face two warnings from local health officials before they can receive penalties of up to $200 a day. There are no criminal charges. WHERE TO COMPLAIN: Anyone who observes a possible violation can file a complaint by contacting a county health
department directly. They also can call (800) 662-7030 or fill out a form available at http://www. smokefree.nc.gov THANK YOU: People who’ve had a positive experience at a place of business with the ban can send a message at the Web site. Anti-smoking advocates also want residents to visit restaurants on Tuesdays in January to show their support for the new law. Sources: House Bill 2; Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch of the N.C. Division of Public Health; N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund.
Obama begins '10 with terror on his mind
Sunny and cold High: 33 Low: 18
Details, 3A
Deaths Creedmoor Lester D. Wooten, 52 Henderson Barbara A. Terry, 45 Oxford Calvin T. Downey Warrenton Carl Bullock, 67
Obituaries, 4A
50 cents
Senator: ‘Somebody screwed up big time’ By CALVIN WOODWARD and PHILIP ELLIOTT Associated Press Writers
HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama is reviewing reports from homeland security officials as his administration tries to determine what U.S. policy and personnel failures preceded the attempted Detroit jetliner bombing. Intelligence officials, meanwhile, prepared for what was shaping up to be uncomfortable hearings before Congress about miscommunication among anti-terror agencies and
sweeping changes expected under Obama’s watch. Democrats joined a chorus led by Obama in declaring the government’s intelligence procedures in Obama need of repair. Among them, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said that when the government gets tipped to trouble as it did before a 23-year-old Nigerian man boarded the Northwest Airlines jet with explosives, “someone’s hair should be on fire.” One senior administration official told reporters traveling with the vacationing president: “The failure to share that information is not going
to be tolerated.” The official, like others involved in the reviews, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence discussions. The Senate Intelligence Committee announced Jan. 21 hearings as part of an investigation to begin sooner. “We will be following the intelligence down the rabbit hole to see where the breakdown occurred and how to prevent this failure in the future,” said Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, top Republican on the committee. “Somebody screwed up big time.” Few questioned that judgment, even if some Democrats rendered it in more measured tones. Please see OBAMA, page 3A
Forecasters: Cold snap heads for N.C. RALEIGH (AP) — Forecasters say the coldest stretch of weather in years if not decades could be heading for North Carolina. While temperatures won’t be falling to record lows, the National Weather Service says the duration of the cold weather is unusual. Highs could struggle to get above freezing for the next week in areas from Raleigh west. Please see COLD, page 3A