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OBAMA GIVING IN ON PUBLIC INSURANCE OPTION OPENING DAY SET FOR OXFORD SUPER WALMART WASHINGTON, PAGE 6A
SPARTAN SOCCER DEFEATS LOUISBURG, 2-1
TRI-COUNTY, PAGE 7A
SPORTS, PAGE 1B TUESDAY, August 18, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 192
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LEAF wish list: 22 projects, $10 million Proposed local uses for grant money total five times more than organization is offering BY AL WHELESS DAILY DISPATCH WRITER
Education, economic development and emergency services interest groups presented a total of 22 grant proposals worth $10,084,016 to Golden Leaf Foundation officials. Suggestions and grant requests from each cat-
egory were: • Economic Development — 11 projects totaling $5,164,646. • Education — eight projects totaling $2,547,156. • Emergency Services — three projects totaling $2,372,214. The competition among the participating 501C
non-profit agencies and government entities is for $2 million. The unbalanced ratio of demand-versus-supply didn’t escape Patricia Cabe, the foundation’s vice-president of Programs/Community Assistance and Outreach. “You have a limited budget, so you have some
tough decisions to make,” she told an audience of estimated at 120 people who gathered Monday night in a small auditorium on the Vance-Granville Community College campus. “Some counties haven’t received the full $2 million,” Cabe cautioned. “That’s why you need to prioritize projects.”
Cabe
Gerlach
She also said the proposers need to make sure that their ideas “are
Norlina mother of 4 shot by male visitor
BY AL WHELESS DAILY DISPATCH WRITER
Contact the writer at awheless@ hendersndispatch.com.
Index
PLEASE SEE LEAF, PAGE 3A
‘Horseplay’ homicide
Charges in death on I-85 Sunday One of four elderly Charlotte residents was fatally injured on Interstate 85 South in Vance County Sunday when their vehicle went out of control at a high speed, struck the median and overturned. The passenger who died was identified as Johnnie Howie, 71. The 71-year-old driver, Eugene Rumth, was discharged Monday afternoon from Maria Parham Medical Center. Emma Price, a 76-year-old passenger, was taken to Maria Parham Medical Center, and was reported to have been transferred to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill. However, a spokeswoman at UNC Hospitals said they had no record of her. Margaret Rumth, a 67-yearold passenger, was also treated at Maria Parham, was released. According to Trooper D.S. Smith of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, the accident occurred at 9:02 a.m., near Mile Marker 216 on I-85 South. The 2005 Pontiac was traveling about 85 mph in the 65 mph zone in the left-hand lane at the time of the accident, the trooper said. He said the passenger car ran off the road to the left, was over-corrected by the driver, ran off the road to the left a second time, struck the median and barrier cables, and overturned. Eugene Rumth was charged with reckless driving, driving while his license was revoked, and misdemeanor death by vehicle.
smart, are targeted, are sustainable and get things done.” Gerlach put it this way: “Can people that aren’t part of that organization say ‘This will help our community.’ That is what will impress us.”
BY AL WHELESS DAILY DISPATCH WRITER
Bird’s-eye view
for the results of each Granville Relay since 2005. They are as follows: • Goal for 2005: $170,000. • Amount raised in 2005: $166,682. • Goal for 2006: $170,600. • Amount raised in 2006: $201,438. • Goal for 2007: $205,000. • Amount raised in 2007: $257,160. • Goal for 2008: $269,850. • Amount raised in 2008: $262,432.
NORLINA — “Horseplay” turned to homicide early Saturday, witnesses told investigators, when a 27-year-old mother was fatally shot by a male visitor while two of her three small children slept in the family’s mobile home. Police Chief Charlie Barker said the victim — Patronica Jeffries of Lot 20 at the Town & Country Mobile Home Park off Warren Plains Road — was struck in the abdomen about 4 a.m. by at least one of two .32-caliber rounds fired by Teon Laron Steed, 29, of 610 Kerr Lake/Cole Bridge Road. “It escalated a little bit and he ended up shooting her,” Barker said. “He left the scene in a vehicle.” The suspect was arrested Saturday at 10:30 p.m. at a residence on Western Avenue in Henderson by Barker, members of the Warren Sheriff’s Office and agents with the State Bureau of Investigation. Steed was charged with firstdegree murder a short while later. Barker said the handgun believed to have been used in the shooting was not recovered. Steed was transported to the Warren County Jail. No bond was set. Jeffries’ other child was staying elsewhere when she was shot, according to Barker. He said the children were taken in by relatives. The chief identified the witnesses at the scene as: Dante Steverson of Cole Bridge Road; Kayla Mason of North Oakwood Lane in Gillburg; Asia Jackson of Countryside Drive in Wise; Jaquena Branch of Countryside Drive in Wise.
Contact the writer at bwest@hendersondispatch.com.
Contact the writer at awheless@ hendersondispatch.com.
DAILY DISPATCH/GLENN CRAVEN
This male cardinal — who lives in the trees behind Subway and Bamboo Garden restaurants in the Dabney West shopping center at 1520 Dabney Drive in Henderson — apparently has figured out that it’s his own reflection in a car mirror, and he likes what he sees. For about 10 minutes Saturday, the bird flitted between perches in the trees and on two different vehicles, stopping on the windowsills of a car and an SUV to watch himself in the mirrors as he bobbed and weaved, in a seemingly playful, non-aggressive fashion. He left for good only when employees from Bamboo Garden walked outside for a break.
Granville Relay nears revised goal of $265K BY WILLIAM F. WEST DAILY DISPATCH WRITER
OXFORD — The Granville County Relay for Life has raised $263,821 this year. The goal for 2009 was $280,000, but was reduced to $265,000 because of the state of the national economy, said Candice Owen Walsh, community manager for Relay for Life. This year’s Granville Relay for Life raised more than $47,000, bringing the total amount of contributions to $234,000. Walsh said a softball tourna-
ment was being planned, but was cancelled, so the more than $263,800 figure is not expected to change much before the end of the month. Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature event. The Granville Relay is held each May at the J. F. Webb High School football stadium. Each participant simply walks at his or her own pace and distance on the school’s running track, with the event continuing through the night to illustrate the fact that cancer never sleeps. The Dispatch asked Walsh
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TODAY August mix High: 92 Low: 67
WEDNESDAY Similar
High: 94 Low: 72
Details, 3A
Deaths Benson Jerry L. Curtis, 40 Butner William L. Moore, 63 Greensboro Victoria Racliff, 82 Kittrell Annie Laura S. Hock, 87 Henderson Destiny Alston, baby
Barbara M. Gupton, 70 Patronica N. Jeffreys, 27 Pearl M. Spain, 88 Oxford Katie Cutts, 76 Sidney M. Farabow, 78 Warrenton India Foster Clarence Kersey, 83
Obituaries, 4A
New station for Afton-Elberon
DAILY DISPATCH/EARL KING
Members of the Afton-Elberon Volunteer Fire Department on Sunday dedicted a new station. Organizers began their efforts to create the department on Jan. 9, 1961, and on Aug. 8 of that year, a vote was taken to purchase the department’s first fire truck from the Civil Defense agency for $150. By contrast, the department’s 2,000-gallon tanker purchased in 2004 cost $180,000. According to information provided by Chief Joey Andrews, the Afton-Elberon VFD has fought an average of about 200 fires per year in the past decade, and 145 already in 2009. The new station is a 7,890 square-foot structure that allows the department “to meet the needs of tomorrow’s requirements.”