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State, Nation & World, Page 9A THURSDAY, August 20, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 194
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State denies $1 million request for Embassy Square By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
The city of Henderson’s attempt to obtain $1 million in Community Development Block Grant funding to help pay for an $8.3 million performing arts center at Embassy Square was unsuccessful, City Manager Ray Griffin told the Dispatch.
Funds sought for Arts Center add-on to local library Griffin, reached by e-mail early Wednesday evening, provided an excerpt from the letter from the state Department of Commerce’s Division of Community Assistance: “… Based on our review of the proposed amendment documentation and
the gap in additional funds needed to complete this proposed project, DAC will not be able to provide CDBG funds.” Griffin said the letter was dated Friday. And Griffin said he would have his executive assistant, Beverly Jackson, provide
the full text of the letter to the newspaper today. Griffin, in an interview with the Dispatch prior to the issuance of the letter and for the newspaper’s annual Progress Edition, said the nationwide economic downturn and the changes in the
End of an era in Oxford?
banking industry had impacted the Embassy Square Cultural Center Foundation’s ability to raise funds. The council on Nov. 24 unanimously voted to request the $1 million to help fund the proposed cultural focal point.
“You’re not going to save your way to prosperity,” Foundation Chairman Sam Watkins argued to the council moments before the vote. “And unless we’re willing to make investments, we’re going to continue to flounder in this community,” Watkins added. Please see EMBASSY, page 4A
New EDC casts eye at old BB&T Henderson bank building could hold local developers and VGCC small business center By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Dispatch photo/YOUTUBE.com
Jones Discount Drug Store on Hillsboro Street in Oxford, which has been in business for decades downtown, will reportedly close in about five weeks. While the store has continued to offer old-fashioned service and features — such as a soda fountain and lunch counter — it has ventured into the Internet age with videos of the shop, its staff, and its patrons set to music on YouTube.com, such as the clip above. See the entire video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0n49OehkfQ.
Jones Discount Drug Store reportedly closing next month: Its owner declines specifics; manager’s wife says he’s going to work at Walgreens By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — The owner of Jones Discount Drug Store in the city center is declining to say what the future of his business will be with a Walgreens taking shape nearby, even though the business manager’s wife told the Dispatch that the longtime establishment will shut the doors by late next month. “I can’t give you any information on that at this time,” Charlie Jones said when contacted by the Dispatch on Wednesday. Jones, when asked why he could not provide details, replied, “Because it has not been finalized.” And Jones, when asked when he would be able to give any specifics, replied, “It’ll probably be next month, sometime. I can’t
tell you anything right now. I haven’t made a public announcement or made anything like that.” Betty Finch, whose husband, William, manages Jones Discount Drug Store, told the Dispatch on Tuesday that the business would close Sept. 25. Betty Finch added that her husband would be going to Walgreens. Jones Discount Drug Store, located at 116 Hillsboro St., has been one of the mainstays in the picturesque heart of Granville County. There is even a nearly fiveminute video on the Internet site YouTube.com showing the atmosphere of the place, particularly at noontime at the lunch counter. Betty Finch told the Dispatch there were people who expressed interest in keeping the soda
N.C. community colleges reviewing immigrant policy
fountain open, but that, “They wouldn’t be able to. It costs too much money. They wouldn’t get much business.” The future Walgreens is at the southwest corner of Hillsboro and Linden Avenue. Although the future Walgreens sign is showing the words “Opening soon,” Robert Elfinger, a spokesman for the Chicago-based drugstore chain, told the Dispatch that there is no set opening date, other than to emphasize that the hope is October. News in June 2008 of Walgreens intending to locate in Oxford concerned Jones. “We hate to see another chain come in because it definitely, definitely will hurt the independent stores,” said Jones, who since 1955 has had a drug store along Hillsboro
Index Our Hometown . . . . . Business & Farm. . . . Light Side . . . . . . . . . Opinion . . . . . . . . . . .
System mulls rescinding admissions ban on students who lack legal resident status Deaths RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina community colleges leaders are looking at reversing a ban keeping illegal immigrants out of the statewide system of two-year colleges. The state Board of Community Colleges held a special committee session Wednesday to discuss admitting undocumented students. The panel recommended rules that would keep immigrants from filling spots sought by legal
residents. A consultant’s study said taxpayers wouldn’t be affected if the immigrant students pay out-of-state rates of $7,000 a year. The country’s thirdlargest community college system has changed its illegal immigrant admission policy four times since 2000. The latest look comes as laid-off workers fill classrooms. A new decision could come as early as Friday.
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Street. “And I think it will actually damage downtown.” “Most of the time, your chains do not bank locally. They do not contribute to the local situation,” Jones said, adding that he believes the chains do not provide the same “personal service” as a longtime local pharmacist. “But, it’s kind of inevitable,” Jones said of mass retailers increasingly dominating trade in America’s cities and towns. Jones recalled Oxford’s city center being home to at least four drug stores after World War II. Retail traffic patterns increasingly changed after Walmart in 1991 opened at the Granville Corners shopping center near the Interstate 85/N.C. Highway 96 interchange.
William J. Tingen, 42 Manson Mark Elam, 42 Warrenton Carl Robinson, 55
Obituaries, 4A
Please see EDC, page 4A
Vance Charter ABC, AYP results illustrate success State calls it an ‘Honor School of Excellence’ By DAVID IRVINE Daily Dispatch Writer
Test results released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in early August provide a rosy picture of the performance of students at Vance Charter School in Henderson. Data related to both the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program and the North Carolina ABCs Accountability Model were released for schools Please see DRUG STORE, page 3A throughout the state. Adequate Yearly Progress results for NCLB showed that Vance Charter School met all nine of its target goals for the State, Nation & World. . 9A 2008-2009 school year. The Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B goals related to the percent Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5B of students tested, the Classifieds. . . . . . 6-10B percent of students who scored at or above grade level and attendance rate. The results showed that 85 percent of students in Today grades three through eight scored at or above grade level in reading and more A bit hot High: 90 than 95 percent in mathLow: 70 ematics. More than 70 percent of North Carolina’s public Friday schools now meet federal performance standards. The state Department of Humid Public Instruction reported High: 90 that 71 percent of schools Low: 70 met standards for adDetails, 3A equate yearly progress in 2008-09, more than double
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Randy Parker, president of Vance-Granville Community College, said Wednesday he toured the former BB&T Bank building on Chestnut Street about three weeks ago as a possible relocation site for the Small Business Center now on the main campus. The center would serve Vance, Warren, Organizing Franknew EDC lin and Granville Sam Watkins counties, is chairman Parker of revamped added. development If the agency. idea Page 4A becomes reality, there should be space in the structure for the new Henderson-Vance Econom-
ic Development Commission, according to Parker. He said both organizations operating in the same building “would drive down the overhead.” EDC Chairman Sam Watkins said county funding would be required to pay much of the total monthly rent of $3,800 to the Henderson Investment Development Corporation, if the HIDC buys the building from BB&T. HIDC has a 60day option to acquire the 7,500-square-foot structure at a price of $300,000. Watkins said the building has been appraised at up to $1.3 million. Parker said the Small Business Center could work with “incubator businesses” that could grow in the structure.
the percent from the previous year. NCLB standards require that a school must meet performance goals for each student subgroup, such as several categories of minority students and students with disabilities. Vance Charter’s results for these subgroups contained asterisks, with a footnote reading, “not calculated due to insufficient data (less than 40 students in the subgroup).” During the 2008-2009 school year, Vance Charter had 38 minority students (11.8 percent) and 26 students with disabilities (8.1 percent) of the 321 students in grades three through eight, so results for those subgroups at Vance Charter were not reported. On State of North Carolina ABCs results, the 2008-2009 performance of students at Vance Charter led the school to be designated as an Honor School of Excellence. Vance Charter’s performance composite score, a measure of the number of students considered literate by the state, for students in grades three through eight was 90.4. Overall, the school was rated as having met expected its goals. Contact the writer at dirvine@ hendersondispatch.com.