CMYK Toyota dealer due pedal repair kits Public Records, Page 6A
To stagger terms or not Opinion, Page 8A
$52 million for N.C. road that’s still going nowhere State & Nation, Page 10A Wake’s Al-Farouq Aminu drives to the goal in win over Miami, 62-53.
GRIDIRON GUIDE
Wall leads Wildcats to win over Ole Miss
FOR YOUR GRILL
Sports, Page 1B
Sports, Page 1B
Good Taste, Page 1C
WEDNESDAY, February 3, 2010
Volume XCVI, No. 28
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
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Tax, state-shared revenue budget ‘wild cards’ Manager: Economy needs to grow, but city falling behind By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
City Manager Ray Griffin said he believes the wild cards in preparing the municipal budget for Fiscal Year 2010-2011 will be sales tax revenues and the stateshared revenues to local govern-
Men’s shelter empty during snowstorm
ments to help fund services. “They are as volatile as they can be,” Griffin said. And Griffin said that, as he and the rest of the municipal administration moves forward, “we’re going to see a mirror of what we saw in Fiscal ‘10. Now, hopefully, we won’t see it go any lower, but it’s going to be equally as tight and difficult.” Griffin, speaking at the municipal government’s recent annual retreat, said one of the challenges is to grow the economy locally in the worst commercial downturn in the
nation since the Great Depression and in the face of globalization. The city, he has noted, took a significant step by joining the local Economic Griffin Development Commission (EDC) board. But, Griffin said, Henderson has fallen behind regionally in having stores people want, noting that, “we don’t have the Bed, Bath & Beyonds or the Targets” and that, when people go to such stores in other cities, they are
more likely to consolidate their shopping and eat at adjacent restaurants. Griffin said Henderson is going to have to expand municipal boundaries, noting the city has not annexed since 2002. The city last year was unable to fund a comprehensive annexation plan. Griffin said he is hopeful something can be done in the next budget because if the municipal government can develop a logical document for how to grow the city physically, then, “we can begin to provide and extend services where they
Contact the writer at dirvine@hendersondispatch.com.
Schools remain closed; state of emergency ends By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
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Weather
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Details, 3A Good news! The Daily Dispatch is printed on recycled paper.
Please see MELTING, page 7A
Grant aids VGCC energy efficiency All college facilities getting upgrades to fluorescent lighting By DISPATCH STAFF
Henderson Barbara C. Goodrich, 77 Belvin W. Hargrove, 42 Loretta W. Hargrove, 65 Alice W. Young, 90 Oxford Wade A. Childress, 75 Elsie R. Harris, 78 Raleigh Barbara P. Williams
Obituaries, 4A
Partly cloudy
Area students will have at least one more day to enjoy what’s left of the white stuff. Vance County Schools, Granville County Schools, Warren County Schools, Franklin County Schools, Crossroads Christian School and Kerr-Vance Academy are again closed today due to ice concerns following Saturday’s winter storm. Vance Charter School is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. today. Victory Christian School and Norlina Christian School will also be closed today. Vance-Granville Community College announced it will operate today on a 2-hour delay. Crews continued clearing roads and streets Tuesday, but some residential and rural roads remain icy. Temperatures were expected to drop back below freezing Tuesday night producing patches of black ice this morning. The local State of Emergency that was declared recently is expected to end at noon today, according to Brian Short, the county’s Emergency Management director. Short said if the governor
A pair of skinny snowmen stand guard outside a house on Vicksboro Road Tuesday morning. Light rain fell across the area on Tuesday helping to melt and wash away leftover snow from the weekend storm. At right, an NCDOT tractor scrapes the road of snow and ice near the intersection of Garnett Street, Chestnut Street and Norlina Monday morning. To view or purchase photos, visit us on the Web at www.hendersondispatch.com.
Index Our Hometown . . . . . Business & Farm. . . . Public Records . . . . . Opinion . . . . . . . . . . .
Please see MANAGER, page 3A
Foul-weather friends melting away
By DAVID IRVINE Daily Dispatch Writer
In spite of the extreme winter weather — or perhaps because of it — the homeless shelter for men at First Presbyterian Church remained empty. William Avery of Shiloh Baptist Church said that no one showed up this past weekend, although he and other members of the church were there ready to receive them. The shelter will continue to be open into the spring for men seeking a place to stay overnight. The shelter is located in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church between Young Street and Church Street in Henderson. Entry to the shelter is from Church Street. Men seeking shelter for the night should register between 5:30 and 7 p.m. The doors will close at 7. Occupants of the shelter will be required to leave by 6:30 a.m. the next day. Joel Rice, housing coordinator for Five-county Mental Health Authority, said the project is continuing its efforts to get the word out to the population they hope to serve. A flyer is being displayed in soup kitchens and other locations where it may come to the attention of homeless men.
are needed, we can expand the tax base and we can expand the population base.” The manager’s remarks followed an earlier presentation by City Finance Director Sandra Wilkerson, who received the sales tax collections for November. “Right now we are running about $36,000 short from what we’ve budgeted,” Wilkerson said. Wilkerson read aloud numbers of average monthly figures from sales taxes the last few fiscal years: Approximately
Vance-Granville Community College is among 6 educational agencies and local governments in North Carolina to receive grants to save energy, the college board learned at its bimonthly meeting on Jan. 25. Vice President of Finance and Operations Matt Williams reported that VGCC will use its $130,836 in Federal Recovery Act funds to complete upgrading all college buildings on all 4 campuses with energy-efficient fluorescent light fixtures. The 6 grants total $860,700 and were announced Jan. 6 by Gov. Beverly Perdue.
Williams said that energyefficient fixtures had already been installed in some of the college buildings, including all the facilities on the Franklin County campus. The grant will pay to complete the installation of the efficient “T5” and “T-8” fluorescent lights on the college main campus in Vance County, the south campus in Granville County and the Warren County campus. In other business, the board: • Amended its 2009-2010 budget, bringing the total budget to $42,805,344. • Heard a report from Dr. Kathy Baker Smith, a retired Guilford
Technical Community College official, on community forums under way in each of the counties served by VGCC. The forums are providing feedback on how the college can better serve the area over the next five years. Smith is consulting with VGCC on gathering information and planning. The board’s next meeting will be on March 15 at 7 p.m. at the dining hall for the VGCC culinary program at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford. Send comments to news@hendersondispatch.com.