CMYK Company moving headquarters to N.C.
Yemen’s problems are ours, too
Viking wrestlers pinned by Orange
Business & Farm, Page 5A
Opinion, Page 6A
Sports, Page 1B THURSDAY, January 7, 2010
Volume XCVI, No. 6
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
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Courthouse interior due renovation ‘Watch’ By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — The Granville County Courthouse will undergo a major interior renovation to ensure a better appearance, install improved safety measures and provide more ease of flow. The County Commission unanimously gave the go-ahead to D.W. Ward Construction of Durham for a trio of projects totaling $146,862. Ward addition-
ally received a pair of alternate projects totaling $32,542. The projects will include modifying the Williamsboro Street entrance to allow for a security area, an exterior storefront with separate entry and exit doors and servicing for a new walk-through metal detector. County Manager Brian Alligood told the newspaper that one will only be able to enter or exit on the Williamsboro Street side. “The big wooden doors on
the other end will be closed,” Alligood said, referring to the Main Street side, which he noted would be an emergency exit. The courthouse’s metal detector has been a rarely used, portable one near the Main Street side. And Alligood said an exit door near the District Attorney’s reception office also will only be an emergency outlet. The projects will include renovating the corridors and lobbies of both floors, renovat-
ing the stairwells and replacing peeling and soiled wallpaper with a durable and washable paint. Thumb tacks are holding part of the wallpaper in place near the Superior Court Clerk’s cashier station on the first floor. And the projects will include work associated with renovations and upgrades to the superior courtroom, which is on the second floor. The work will include repairing that courtPlease see COURTHOUSE, page 5A
Chilly days, cold nights ahead
unity in new year Expanding Vance Community Watch also goal in 2010 By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Water from Kerr Lake sits frozen at the Crooked Run Wildlife Management Area off N.C. 39 north of Henderson. High temperatures are expected to range in the low 40s and 30s during the day and hover around 20 degrees for the next few nights. For more on this week’s weather, see Page 3A.
Police need your help to solve hit-and-run By DISPATCH STAFF
WILTON — The N.C. Highway Patrol is asking for the public’s helping in solving a hit-and-run on June 13, 2007, that resulted in the death of a 67-year-old flagman. R.C. Williamson was struck while assigned to N.C. 96 near Bruce Garner Road. A spokesman for the Highway Patrol’s Durham
Index
office said witnesses could only describe the fleeing vehicle as cream-colored and possibly a two-door model. The day after Williamson was struck, he was taken off life support at Duke University Hospital. Williamson worked for his brother-in-law Mike Ellington. Williamson’s family offered $1,500 for Please see HELP, page 3A
Weather Today
Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 6A Light Side . . . . . . . . . 7A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5B Classifieds. . . . . . . 6-7B
Partly cloudy
High: 42 Low: 26
Friday Partly cloudy
High: 35 Low: 19
Details, 3A
Deaths Daleville, Va. Daisy P. Matthews, 81 Durham Frederick A. Crowell, 64 Timothy Glover, 51 Far Rockaway, N.Y. Charles Boben, 86 Goldsboro Earl Whitted Jr., 78 Henderson Clifton Bennett, 43
Edward Hargrove, 62 Lori A. Price, 45 Elizabeth H. Wortham, 75 Oxford Glen C. Currin, 87 George G. Davis, 75 Willia M. Dunkin, 46 Red Springs William R. Currie, 61
Obituaries, 4A
A gathering featuring local leaders and officials is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 28 in connection with highlighting a Vance Countywide community watch effort to help make residents safer. The get-together will be in a classroom at Maria Parham Medical Center, 566 Ruin Creek Road. During Wednesday morning’s Clean Up Henderson Committee meeting, City Manager Ray Griffin noted the City Council and the County Commission each having recently approved resolutions declaring 2010 as the Year of Community Watch. Griffin said the purpose is to urge a unification of community watches, as well as to establish community watch organizations where none exist. The documents were approved at the request of the Rev. Frank Sossamon, who is chairman of Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers. During the Clean Up Henderson meeting, Senior Police Officer Angela Feingold made a cell phone call confirming the time and date of the gathering. Moments earlier, City Fire Chief Danny Wilkerson said he Please see ‘WATCH’, page 3A
Vance home rehab program at work Commissioners OK four bids on properties that will be resold By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
The Board of Commissioners approved Monday night three home rehabilitation bids and one demolition bid which are evidence of Vance County’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program at work. A $210,000 administrative contract with the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments was approved by the commissioners on July 8. The fee is 10 percent of the cost of the program. The companies’ bids that were okayed by the board Monday night were presented by Julie Reid, a COG representative.
They included: • Demolition at 632 Arch St. by CHI Construction for $6,300. • Rehabilitation at 1995 Frances Ave. by E.M. Wilkerson & Sons for $4,500. • Rehabilitation at 209 Hawkins Drive by L. Roberts Repair Builders for $3,800. • Rehabilitation at 506 Hickory St. by Bennett & Bennett Builders for $4,465. Reid said last September that an untold number of homes will be bought, rehabilitated and resold. “Service” people such as firefighters, local government employees, police officers and school teachers will be offered the homes first.
“We have identified 25 floor plans for houses with a price range of $60,000 to $137,000 that will contain 676 to just under 1,300 square feet of space,” Reid told county commissioners and city council members attending a joint meeting held at the Silo restaurant. She said the USDA and State Employees Credit Union were lenders chosen to work with the program because they don’t sell homes. Each time a house is torn down, another one is built through the self-sustaining venture, according to Reid. Contact the writer at awheless@hendersondispatch.com.
Report: 4,282 businesses operated in region Workforce summary shows Vance second in weekly wages among area counties By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Vance County had 921 businesses with an average total of more than 15,000 employees for the quarter ending June 30 of last year, figures that represented .39 percent of the state average for the same time period. Those and other statistics were released this week in a workforce summary of the Kerr-Tar Region. The report was produced by the Labor Market Information Division of the North Carolina Employment Security Commission. In addition to Vance, the document included Warren, Granville, Franklin, Person and Caswell coun-
ties for the same time frame. Granville had 907 businesses with a total average of 19,440 employees. The numbers represented .50 percent of the state average. Warren had 331 businesses with a total average of 3,660 employees. The numbers represented .09 percent of the state average. The Kerr-Tar Region had 4,282 businesses with a total average of 62,757 employees. The numbers represented 1.63 percent of the state average. A comparison of weekly wages for the quarter ending June 30 also showed percentages of the state average. Included were: • Vance — $571 at 77.8 percent.
• Granville — $703 at 95.8 percent. • Warren — $537 at 73.2 percent. • Kerr-Tarr — $627 at 85.4 percent. • North Carolina — $734. Unemployment benefits paid out in November of 2008 and last November included: • Vance — $765,922 and $897,874. • Granville — $644,555 and $1,148,306. • Warren — $205,481 and $265,933. • Kerr-Tar — $3,107,876 and $4,924,715. • North Carolina — $127,618,883 Please see REPORT, page 3A