CMYK Same-sex adoptions in N.C.?
Attorney gives new life to old tavern
Virginia defeats N.C. State, 59-47
Public Records, Page 6A
Local News, Page 12A
Sports, Page 1B THURSDAY, February 4, 2010
Volume XCVI, No. 29
(252) 436-2700
Over 2,000 inspections by firemen Project aimed at reducing fire risk By DAVID IRVINE Daily Dispatch Writer
Fire Chief Danny Wilkerson has released results of the Fire Safety Home Inspection Project the Henderson Fire Department conducted in December. Beginning on Dec. 10 and continuing through Dec. 21, Henderson firefighters visited 6,411 homes. They were invited into 2,020 homes to do a fire safety inspection. At the other 4,391 homes, firefighters left door hangers on the front doors with contact information for the occupants to call if they would like a fire safety inspection. Smoke alarms are a first line of defense in protecting occupants in the case of a fire in the home. According to the National Fire Protection Association, three out of four deaths in home fires result from smoke inhalation and not from burns. That’s why firesafety.gov, the federal government’s web site for residential fire safety, says, “Get a smoke alarm,” adding, “a smoke alarm is critical for the early detection of a fire in your home and could mean the difference between life and death.” During Henderson’s Fire Safety Home Inspection Project, the firefighters installed 185 smoke alarms in homes they inspected. In addition, they replaced 478 nine-volt batteries in existing smoke alarms. Please see FIREMEN, page 12A
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . 10A Light Side . . . . . . . . 11A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5B Classifieds. . . . . . . 6-8B
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Third arrest in target-shooting death 85-year-old man killed during walk By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Investigators arrested Tuesday the third target-shooter charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Sept. 4 gunshot death of 85-year-old John Thomas Satterwhite of 750 Tobacco Road. Vance County Sheriff’s depu-
ties — assisted by State Bureau of Investigation agents and Rocky Mount police officers — picked up Dennis Matthew McDermott II, 29, in a motel in the Gold Rock community in Nash County. McDermott, who lives in Rocky Mount, and two other men were indicted by a Vance County grand jury in the case in mid-December. The others are John Randy Woodlief, 30, of 390 S. Chavis Rd, Lot 6, in Kittrell and Darryl Craig Harting, 43, of Youngsville. They were arrested in late December.
Each of the defendants, including McDermott, was placed in the Vance County Jail, in lieu of $100,000 bond. All three are accused of accidentally killing Satterwhite while he was walking along a wooded path on his land. They were firing guns at plastic bottles on nearby property owned by someone else. According to Sheriff Peter White, Satterwhite was struck by a bullet about a quarter-mile from his home, and approximately 600 feet from where the three
men were firing shoulder-held weapons. The plastic bottles were lying on the ground between the shooters and Satterwhite, the sheriff said. White described the terrain as “very uneven.” The body was discovered by the victim’s 75-year-old wife, Dixie Williamson Satterwhite, after he had been gone from their house for about three hours. Contact the writer at awheless@hendersondispatch.com.
Vance County schools on two-hour delay Firefighting
agreement gets review County industries can pay Oxford for fire protection By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
School buses sit in a parking lot Wednesday morning at Aycock Elementary School. Vance County schools are on a twohour delay today after missing three days due to snow.
Granville: Don’t change liquor control County urges governor to leave sales in the hands of state and counties By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — The Granville County Commission unanimously voted to write a letter to Gov. Beverly Perdue urging her to keep liquor sales in the hands of the state and the counties amid an anticipated legislative study of an Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) system hit hard by bad publicity. The commission acted after a presentation by County ABC Board Chairman Robert Rogers. Additionally, the commission without dissent authorized increasing the monthly county ABC board meeting pay of Rogers
and the other two county board members from $30 to $50. Rogers, of Butner, has served on the board since 1993, while Allen Thomas Nelson, of Stovall, has served on the board since 1994 and Robert T. “Rob” Williford II, of Oxford, has served on the board since 2002. The county has two ABC stores: One at 111 New College St. in central Oxford; the other near the Interstate 85/N.C. 56 interchange for Butner and Creedmoor. Rogers said the county ABC board is looking in the Wilton area in the bustling southeastern part of the county as a possible location for another store.
Rogers, speaking to the County Commission on Monday night, gave figures saying the county ABC system is No. 1 in inventory cost analysis, that is, in the turnover of products in the two stores. Rogers said the county ABC system, with a profit of 11.34 percent, ranked 20th of 159 ABC boards in profit percentage to revenues, 17th of 159 boards in operating cost analysis and 19th of 127 boards in profit percentages of mixed beverages. County voters in 2005 approved allowing sales of liquor by the glass. Fiscal Year 2008-09 liquor sales were $2,958,749, while Please see LIQUOR, page 3A
OXFORD — The City Commission’s Public Safety Committee is looking into Oxford’s mutual aid firefighting agreement with Granville County after city firefighters had to assist county volunteers with fighting a fire at Dill Air Controls. Oxford’s biggest employers are just outside the municipal boundaries, but they can pay 15 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation and receive fire protection from the city. An exception had been Dill, which opened a plant in 2005 in the former Lenox China plant off Williamsboro Street/Business U.S. 158 and near Interstate 85. Dill, which is owned by a Shanghai-based company, makes air valves and valve parts and products. The fire occurred Jan. 28, rural Antioch and Corinth firefighters responded and Corinth Fire Capt. Harry Wilkins called Oxford for help. City Manager Mark Donham said that, on Monday, Dill paid Oxford $7,800 for a year’s worth of fire protection. Donham in documents said there are outside Please see FIREFIGHTING, page 3A
Man charged after traffic stop, chase By DISPATCH STAFF
Details, 3A
Deaths Henderson Bonnie T. Currin, 62 Melvin W. Williamson, 62 Louisburg Octavius Burt, 27 Oxford Mary L. Compton, 75 Ruth N. Rogers, 75 William P. Thorpe, 66 Warrenton David M. Harrell, 67
Obituaries, 4A
Rakin Jaburr Henderson, 21, of 219 Lincoln St. was arrested early Wednesday by Henderson police following a traffic stop and a short foot chase. Police said a loaded handgun was found near where they appreHenderson hended Henderson, who was charged with: • Resist, delay and obstruct. • Assault on a government official. • Carrying a concealed weapon. He is being held in the Vance County jail in lieu of $2,000 bond, pending a court appearance on Please see CHARGED, page 3A
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Henderson Family YMCA celebrates
Vanessa Jones, chairman of the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce board of directors, Wayne Adcock, chief volunteer officer for the Henderson Family YMCA, and Woody Caudle, executive director of the Henderson Family YMCA, cut one of two cakes during a celebration Wednesday for the YMCA’s 30 years of service in Vance County and 20 years in their current location on Ruin Creek Road.