CMYK Webb boys, girls defeat Orange
Rebuilding Hope Ministries spreads gospel
American Profile magazine
Sports, Page 1B
Faith, Page 1C
Inside Today SATURDAY, January 16, 2010
Volume XCVI, No. 14
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
Charged with rape attempt
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
This house at 144 Carolina Woods Drive, which is in foreclosure, is scheduled to be sold on Jan. 27.
Henderson man also accused of assaulting victim By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — A 32-yearold Henderson man is being held in the Granville County Jail on $250,000 bond after the Oxford Police Department charged him with felony attempted first-degree rape. Anthony Royster, of 720 7-B Highland Ave., additionally Royster is charged with felony assault by strangulation and felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. The alleged offenses occurred in a building in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Police Detective Sgt. Mark Blair said. Royster allegedly used a sharp-edged instrument as the weapon and allegedly used his hands to strangle the accuser, Blair said. Blair said he cannot provide additional information because an investigation is continuing. Royster, who was arrested Thursday, additionally is charged with misdemeanor unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Blair said the alleged misdemeanor offense is not connected to the alleged felony offenses. Blair said Royster is scheduled to be in District Court at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 27. Contact the writer at bwest@ hendersondispatch.com.
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 6A Light Side . . . . . . . . . 7A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4C Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5C Classifieds. . . . . . . 6-8C
Weather Today Partly cloudy
High: 57 Low: 39
Sunday Rain likely
High: 49 Low: 36
Details, 3A
Deaths Henderson Raymond Beck, 87 Clifton Burwell, 50 Maggie W. Lewis, 60 Warren County Henderson D. Wilson, 70
Obituaries, 4A
50 cents
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Henderson firefighters Wayne Fiscus, left, and Michael Fleming spray water on the grass in front of this house Friday morning at 815 Harriett St. to keep the fire from spreading during a control-burn by the Henderson Fire Department. To view or purchase photos, visit us on the Web at www.hendersondispatch.com.
TRAINING DAY
AREA FIREFIGHTERS PRACTICE SKILLS AT CONTROL-BURN
Vance, area foreclosure filings down Tri-County bucking trend in state; only Granville rate rises By DAVID IRVINE Dail;y Dispatch Writer
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Above, two chimneys are all that remain of the roof at 815 Harriett St. Below, Drewry volunteer firefighter Josh Leonard, rear, and Cokesbury volunteer firefighter Shawn Pulliam man a hose at the control burn on Harriett Street.
Cokesbury volunteer fire chief Chris Wright carries a bundle of lit straw to ignite another part of the house at 815 Harriett St. Wright is also a firefighting instructor at Vance-Granville Community College, who’s class participated in the training. The Henderson Fire Department along with area volunteer agencies participated in the burn.
Violence, education, jobs Man asks officials to join him in march for city’s youth By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
A Henderson man told the City Council he will lead a march seeking to end violence, improve education and call attention to the need for jobs. Bryan Hargrove, who said he has a permit to march Feb. 6, asked the municipal elected officials to join him in standing up for the city’s youth. Hargrove told the council earlier this week that “I would like to see a lot more input as to what we’re doing about our kids because we’re losing them daily. “And it might not be death, but we’re losing them to the streets. And that’s something that we have to stop,” Hargrove said.
There are neighborhoods with dilapidated housing, messy grounds and “kids just hanging in the street,” Hargrove said. “We have to come up with something that we can give them. We have to give them options,” Hargrove said. “We blame them for a lot of stuff that goes on in Henderson,” Hargrove said. “And a lot of ‘em are doing things that goes on in Henderson. But, guess what we’re not doing? We’re not giving ‘em options. We’re not giving ‘em anything else to do.” “We can build jails all day, but, if we don’t give ‘em anything else, yeah, we’re going to fill ‘em up,” Hargrove added. “But, why don’t we try to do
something to try to stop them from going? Why don’t we get in the street?” The council met Monday evening. Hargrove, 46, a substitute schoolteacher, told the newspaper he will march at 11 a.m. from the corner of Dabney Drive and Garnett Street to Henderson Middle School, 219 Charles St. Also on Monday evening, local governmental watchdog Lewis Edwards presented the council a letter opposing the municipal government’s support for the proposed sewer line from the Zeb Vance High School campus to Kittrell. Edwards, in the letter, said
WILTON — A 54-year-old Youngsville woman died as a result of a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer on N.C. 56 near Walters Road in the southeastern part of Granville County, the state Highway Patrol said. Valerie Ann Hyers, of 35 Williamston Ridge Drive, was driving a 2008 Kia car west on N.C. 56 when she crossed the center line and hit an eastbound
1999 Freightliner being driven by Melvin Clyde Lefler II, 39, the patrol said. The car being driven by Hyers went off the pavement and to the right, the patrol said. The tractor-trailer being driven by Lefler crossed the center line, striking a westbound 2003 GMC car being driven by Brian Andrew McRee, 42, the patrol said. The GMC car came to rest on the shoulder, the patrol said. Lefler, of 160 Happy Lake
Please see FORECLOSURE, page 3A
Firearms violation charged to city man By DISPATCH STAFF
Road, Rockwell, was taken to Granville Health System with minor injuries. McRee, of 528 W. River Road, Louisburg, was unharmed. The wreck happened at 6:31 a.m. Thursday on the two-lane route and Trooper C.E. Lloyd responded. The death of Hyers was the first fatality on a route in Granville County this year.
A 27-year-old Henderson man has been arrested by officers of the Henderson Police Department Criminal Investigations Division and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Police said Johnnie Lewis was taken into custody Wednesday on an outstanding federal indictment. He is being held without bond on federal charges of posLewis session of a firearm by a convicted felon, pending proceedings in federal court. Lewis, whose case was taken over by the ATF, was charged on July 7 with robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Send comments to the newspaper at news@hendersondispatch.com.
Send comments to news@hendersondispatch.com.
Please see VIOLENCE, page 3A
Woman, 54, dies in head-on crash By DISPATCH STAFF
Foreclosure filings on homes in North Carolina rose 17 percent between 2008 and 2009. However, Vance County and its neighboring counties are bucking the trend. Foreclosure filings in Vance County declined by 11 percent and in Warren County by 9 percent. Foreclosure filings in Granville County rose 4 percent, still considerably below the state rate. A foreclosure filing only means that the foreclosure process has begun. It does not necessarily mean that the homeowner will lose the house. During the process the owner may take any of several actions to avoid losing the home — by refinancing, by coming up with the necessary cash or by selling the house and paying off the mortgage. But the number of foreclosure listings may provide a rough barometer of the economic health of an area. A total of 63,341 foreclosure filings in the state’s courts occurred in 2009, compared with 53,960 in 2008. In the three-county area, the number of 2009 filings were: • Granville County — 344, up from 331 in 2008. • Vance County — 208, down from 233 in 2008. • Warren County — 70, down from 77 in 2008 . The number of foreclosure filings is related to the size of the county. To compare one area with another, the population needs to be taken into account. In North Carolina, there was one foreclosure filing for every 146 residents. The three-county area had a better record than the state as a whole. In Granville County the rate was one