CMYK Departing Shope backs Strickland
Perdue signs consumer protection law
From Webb to Gardner-Webb
From Page One, Page 3A
Business & Farm, Page 5A
Sports, Page 1B THURSDAY, September 10, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 212
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
50 cents
City zoning board goes slow on motel use permit Safety violations shut the business down day after fatal shooting By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
The Zoning Board of Adjustment decided to hold off granting a special use permit allowing the reopening of the former America’s Best Value Inn at 200 Parham Road because the board
members want to hear from the owner and/or whoever is going to manage the business. The board, meeting on Tuesday afternoon, agreed to continue the matter until the Oct. 6 meeting after spending more than an hour on the subject of the motel, which the Fire Department shut down on June 15 for safety violations and the day after a fatal shooting on the property. The board members were particularly concerned after hearing in detail from Fire Chief Danny Wilkerson, Police Chief Keith
Sidwell, City Code Compliance Director Corey Williams and City Planning Director Erris Dunston about safety violations and unsanitary conditions at the motel. And the board members were particularly concerned of there being no evidence of a first floor room having been decontaminated after police in December conducted a raid resulting in the shutdown of a methamphetamine laboratory and the arrest of an Arkansas man. The latter at one point Tuesday prompted board member
Marchita Vann to tell the motel owner’s representative, Hitesh Amin, that her question would be, “Are you all really — are whoever — are they really going to be sincere about repairing this hotel/motel?” Amin told the board that all of the issues would be fixed and that the owner, Mahendra Patel, is spending $100,000 on fire alarms. Amin identified himself as from Richmond, Va., and a best friend of Patel, who lives in Nanuet, N.Y. Amin said he worked at the motel in 2001, 2002 and 2003
From STAFF REPORTS
Old BB&T on Chestnut eyed for new home By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
The Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commission plans to ask the County Commissioners to fund the relocation of Vance-Granville Community College’s Small Business Center from the main campus to downtown. Randy Parker, presiDaily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE dent of VGCC, was at the EDC meeting in the Perry Library Wednesday when Chairman Sam Watkins said he will send the comA bug feeds on a yellow cosmos flower growing on the side of Club Pond Road off Vicksboro missioners a letter seeking Road Wednesday afternoon. rent money payment for space for the center in the Please see SHOOTING, page 4A old BB&T bank building on Chestnut Street. The EDC hopes to also move its office in the Barnette Building on Graham Avenue to the Our Hometown . . . . . 2A former BB&T site. WatBusiness & Farm. . . . 5A kins pointed out that there Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 6A would be no additional cost Light Side . . . . . . . . . 7A In August, the compurpose facility to be built By AL WHELESS to the county for that since missioners approved an at E.M. Rollins ElemenDaily Dispatch Writer Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B it already pays the rent at application for $1,536,396 tary. Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5B worth of the no-interest The other multi-purpose the current location. Vance Commissioners Classifieds. . . . . . . 6-8B After the college’s board bonds. Sale of the bonds is rooms were approved in voted Monday night to apof trustees meets Sept. subject to final approval by August for New Hope prove a “reapplication” for 21, Parker told the group Elementary at $455,813; Qualified School Construc- the County. Wednesday, he will have County Manager Jerry Carver Elementary at tion Bond funds totaling Today a better idea of what the Ayscue told the board $455,813; and L.B. Yancey $2,365,370. space needs for the center that additional funding of Elementary at $624,770. Members of the board $828,974 has been made Also Monday night, the would be. made the decision as Some... The possibility of havavailable to Vance County board held the first of two directed by the North High: 78 ing room for the center to Schools by the State public hearings necessary Carolina Department of Low: 55 Department of Public before approving a Revital- “incubate” and grow small Public Instruction. Instruction. ization Grant application businesses in the BB&T The bonds can’t be Friday The additional money building was mentioned issued without further Please see VANCE, page 4A will allow a fourth multiconsent by the County. by both Parker and some
Blooming buffet
Vance to reapply for bonds to fund school construction
Index
Weather
...sun
High: 79 Low: 63
Details, 3A
Deaths
EDC members during the meeting. Terry Garrison, who belongs to the economic development organization, told the other members that his fellow Vance Commissioners would probably favor paying 75 percent of the rent under the traditional agreement with Granville County, which pays the other 25 percent in local funding for the college. “We would need to know the uses, the programs, those who would be served and the space needs,” Garrison told Watkins. “I think, perhaps, the more specific your request, the more accommodating we can be,” the commissioner added. Earlier in the meeting, Watkins said the EDC should ask the county to fund “the whole 100 percent,” if it can. He told the other members that it might be possible to get a five-year lease for space for the center instead of the usual 10-year agreement. Henderson Investment Development Corporation has a 60-day option — which expires Oct. 16 — to buy the 7,500-square-foot structure from BB&T for $300,000. According to Watkins, the building has been appraised for up to $1.3 million. He said HIDC needs to know by Oct. 9 whether the Small Business Center would be its main tenant. During an Aug. 19 Please see EDC, page 4A
Police: Bank robber’s getaway car ran out of fuel By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
CREEDMOOR — Police need help finding a man who robbed the RBC Bank at 608 N. Main St. earlier this week. The suspect is described as black and standing five feet, eight inches tall and was seen carrying a small, dark handgun. Obituaries, 4A Police said that the crime occurred at 10:25 a.m. Monday, with the robber demanding bank employees fill up garbage bags he provided to them. Police said the robber
Henderson Dorothy E. Mitchell, 83 Newport News, Va. Thomas H. Paynter, 82 Oxford Thelma Thornton, 82 Vinston E. Thorpe, 64 Warrenton Robert Cheek, 70
Please see MOTEL, page 3A
EDC to ask county to fund business center, office move
Arrest in Hargrove shooting The number of suspects wanted by the Vance County Sheriff’s Office in connection with a July 31 fatal shooting is down to two. According to an arrest report, Sumorrius Lamont Waverly, 23, of 1095 Morgan Road was arrested Sept. 4 when he turned himself in at the Sheriff’s office. He is charged with felony conspiracy, felony attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. His bond was set at $145,000. In custody on the same charges are Tavon Tabarus Durham, 17, and Jason Ryan Warring, 21. Still at large are Christopher Watkins and Tywan Durham.
and is working for free to help Patel. And Amin, who said he would not be the manager, said the plan is to lease the motel to an unnamed operator in Miami. A problem is Amin has no power of attorney, with City Attorney John Zollicoffer saying, “I think the board wants to talk to somebody who has some responsibility about the ongoing operation.” Amin said 80 percent of the job has been done regarding the fire alarms and said electrical
fled in a maroon Chevrolet Impala reported stolen from Durham. The car was found abandoned off Hawley School Road, with police saying the car had apparently run out of fuel. Hawley Middle School, Creedmoor Elementary School and the South Granville High School campus were placed on lockdown until 1:30 p.m. because the robbery occurred near those locations. Anyone with any information is urged to telephone Granville County Crime Stoppers at (919)
693-3100. Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and a conviction. This is the third RBC location in the Tri-County area to have been victimized by a stickup the last several months. The RBC at 155 Hillsboro St. in Oxford was robbed on April 24 and the RBC at 1207 Dabney Drive in Henderson was robbed on Dec. 5. Durham Herald-Sun reporter Keith Upchurch contributed to this story. Contact the writer at bwest@ hendersondispatch.com.
RBC photo
This photo of the person who held up the RBC bank in Creedmoor on Monday is from a bank camera.