CMYK N.C. Commerce Secretary forum guest
National health care Obama’s Iraq?
Panthers mum on interest in Vick
Business & Farm, Page 5A
Opinion, Page 8A
Sports, Page 1B THURSDAY, August 13, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 188
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Crime Stoppers guest at annual breakfast shares lessons learned By GLENN CRAVEN Daily Dispatch Editor
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Shots fired
Henderson requests for more than $942,000 on way to Golden LEAF From STAFF REPORTS
The Henderson City Council earlier this week ratified an application for funding from the Golden LEAF Foundation to help pay for sewer infrastructure upgrades and to purchase new two-way communications equipment for the Fire Department. The requests were already put in the hands of the Rocky Mount-based non-profit organization by a 5 p.m. Monday deadline, so what City Manager Ray Griffin asked for at the 7 p.m. Monday council meeting was for the eight-member panel to give an official blessing to what was sent out. The city is seeking a total of $942,214.
City officials say the ultraviolet lighting system has been beset by electrical failures, fires, leaks, outages and repair difficulties for years and cannot properly disinfect peak flows. Officials say the total project cost is nearly $1.95 million. There is a request of least $250,000 to cover a cost in the same amount for the sanitary sewer replacement project. Henderson is under a special order of consent with the state to reduce inflow and infiltration of lines, with city officials noting that failure to correct the problems could lead to both the state not allowing additional tap ons within the Sandy Creek Basin and a detrimental effect Please see LEAF, page 3A
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Charred remains are all that are left after fire between South Williams and South Garnett streets raged through an abandoned warehouse Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters were still on the scene Wednesday morning keeping an eye out for hot spots. Officials say the fire is suspicious, and their investigation will be assisted by the State Bureau of Investigation.
Deaths
Today
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There is a request of $500,000 to help pay for replacing the ultraviolet lighting system at the water reclamation plant off N.C. 39 just north of Henderson. Gov. Beverly Perdue pulled back $1.5 million in environmental funds to Henderson to instead help close massive gaps in the state budget, and the city has been unable to obtain federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds. The city does have a $500,000 grant from the N.C. Rural Center to help pay for this project along with rehabilitation of sewer mains. Ultraviolet light is a disinfecting method for destroying disease-causing organisms in the effluent at a wastewater treatment plant.
Charred remains
Weather T-storms High: 83 Low: 66
Friday Ditto
High: 83 Low: 70
Details, 3A
Oxford officials say outsiders causing problem By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
Henderson police officers search for evidence along Horner Street after numerous shots were fired in the vicinity Wednesday afternoon. Details were unavailable at press time.
Please see CRIME STOPPERS, page 4A
Index
50 cents
Parking ban near trouble spot fails
‘Reputation everything’ for officers
Over breakfast Wednesday morning at Golden Corral, nearly 100 local law enforcement officers and court officials picked up a few pointers from J. Rick Brown — lessons the speaker from the North Carolina Justice Academy says he wishes he’d learned in law school. In law enforcement and in life, Brown said, passion is necessary to achieve success. So are honesty and ethics, characteristics impossible Brown to teach an adult if they were not instilled in him as a child. “You’re all held to a very high standard,” Brown told the officers. “Your reputation is everything.” As such, it is the character of those who stand against an officer that might belie the policeman’s positive traits more so than attributes of the cop’s allies. “Life is measured by the quality of the enemies you made, not your friends,” Brown said. “You can get along with everybody, but in so doing, what have you compromised?” Brown was born into a law enforcement family. He grew up hearing stories about his late grandfather, an Ohio sheriff who raided stills and shut down illegal liquor operations during Prohibition. He grew up to attend The Ohio State University for both his bachelor’s degree and juris doctorate, and worked both as an assistant prosecutor in Ohio and as a solo practitioner of law. He is now a Cary resident, holding the position of legal advisor to the Justice Academy since April 2005 as the agency provides advanced training to state and local law enforcement in employment and personnel issues, civil process, arrest, search and seizure, internal affairs and search warrant writing. Brown’s lessons continued. A bad plea bargain can often be better than a good jury trial, the former prosecutor said. That’s because no matter how air-tight a case seems, juries are unpredictable and it only takes one doubter for the prosecution to fail. “The judge is always right,” said Brown, delivering another on-the-job lesson, “and if he isn’t, that’s what the court of appeals is for.”
Creedmoor Mary B. Carpenter, 61 Henderson Gilbert L. Hawkins, 70 Rebecca T. Turlington, 76 Macon Erman J. Edmonds, 77 Oxford Paul S. Garmey, 58 Robert Steed, 73 Warrenton Kermit Richardson, 76 Wilson Jane F. Thaxton, 69
OXFORD — The Oxford City Commission, in a 4-3 vote, rejected a request by Mayor Pro Tem Howard Herring to prohibit parking on city grounds adjacent to the Belle Street basketball court in an attempt to stop loitering in vehicles by illegal drug dealers and in the aftermath of instances of disorder. Herring’s call for action was discussed for approximately 20 minutes of an approximately hour and 45 minute session Tuesday evening, with Herring at one point saying, rather bluntly, “We cannot continue to do nothing.” Herring recommended the commission ban parking from 1 p.m.-7 a.m., which would be timed to follow the noon closure of the adjacent Area Congregations in Ministry (ACIM) building. And Herring recommended that parking from 1-7 be restricted to governmental employees. The parking off Belle Street is adjacent to ACIM, City Hall and the Granville County Economic Development Commission. Commissioners Paul Kiesow, Steve Powell, Bob Shope and Bob Williford voted against Herring’s recommendation. Voting with Herring were Commissioners Walter Cantley and Chance Wilkinson. Mayor Al Woodlief told Herring his idea was a good one, but needed simplifying and to be worked out with the Police Department. Specifically, Woodlief said he believed City Manager Mark Donham and Chief John Wolford “need to discuss the ramifications of cars parking too long — and if they suspect something, get ‘em moving.” Herring’s request, which was not on the commission agenda, came up near the end of the meeting. Herring said he met with Cantley, Donham and Shope and discussed this with Wolford and City Recreation Director Mary Caudle. Herring, who chairs the commission’s Public Safety Committee, said Caudle was supposed to relay his recommendation to Powell, who chairs the commisPlease see PARKING, page 6A
Woman slashed with razor ‘lucky’ By DAVID IRVINE Daily Dispatch Writer
WARRENTON — Mary Hehl, of 204 Church St., was slashed in the neck with a razor in Lowe’s Foods on Friday. According to Warrenton Police Chief John Younts, she was transported to Maria Parham Medical Center, where she received stitches and was released. “She was Obituaries, 4A lucky,” he said.
Younts said that a suspect, Cedric Tyrone Scott, was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. According to Younts, Scott also allegedly stole a motor vehicle in Henderson and is charged by the Henderson Police with breaking and entering and larceny of a motor vehicle. Younts said that Scott is homeless. The Daily Dispatch was unable to obtain additional
details as of Wednesday afternoon. According to the Warren Record, the alleged attacker, Scott, left Lowe’s Foods after the assault, driving a stolen car, which he abandoned outside of Warrenton. He was picked up by Deputy Sheriff Warren Durham and turned over to the Warrenton police. He is being held at the Warren County Detention Center under $1 million bond. A court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 19.