CMYK Health reform: Insurers discontent with Dems T-Mobile ‘almost certainly’ loses user data Webb soccer blanked by Cardinal Gibbons News, Page 3A
Nation, Page 8A
Sports, Page 1B TUESDAY, October 13, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 239
(252) 436-2700
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Israeli firm to open Granville plant Shalag Industries has a client list including Johnson & Johnson and Kimberly Clark By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — An Israeli supplier of nonwoven fabrics in the hygiene and sanitary wipes markets will open a multi-milliondollar plant near the Interstate 85 and U.S. Highway 158 interchange just east of Oxford and will be employing 42 persons. “It’s exciting news, it really is,” Granville County Economic
Development Board Chairman William Adcock told the Dispatch on Monday afternoon when asked his reaction to a commitment from Shalag Industries. The company, which is based in Upper Galilee and dates back to 1984, already has a plant and has a client list that includes Johnson & Johnson, Nicepak and Kimberly Clark. Shalag produces nonwoven
fabrics primarily from polypropylene, polyester and viscose fibers. The fabric is used in the production of dry and wet wipes, diapers and personal hygiene products. In Granville, the fibers will be thermo-bonded into nonwoven fabric. “Shalag is looking forward to becoming a successful corporate citizen in North Carolina and in Oxford,” company Chief Execu-
tive Officier IlanPickman said. “North Carolina is a recognized center for nonwoven manufacturing andR&D and we have identified here a strong infrastructure to support ourbusiness,” Pickman said. The Granville project’s 42 new jobs will pay an average annual wage of$39,966, not including benefits, which exceeds the county average annualwage of $33,020.
County Economic Development Director Jay Tilley said the facility willbe at 917 Oxford Loop Road S.E. That is at what was the warehousing portion of the former Lenox Chinaplant. The specific location is called the Hancock Building, whichTilley said is a reference to local real estate man Wills Hancock. Please see PLANT, page 4A
Gunman flees Hardee’s without money Not so fast … School board steps up to claim Clark Street when charter school asks for old building By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Henderson Police cruisers sit in the parking lot at Hardee’s on the corner of Dabney Drive and Oxford Road after an attempted armed robbery Monday afternoon. Reports indicate a gunman demanded cash, then suddenly fled from the store without it.
Would-be robber asked for cash, then just left without it By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Possibly getting cold feet, an armed, would-be robber fled a local restaurant empty-handed Monday. Police say a gunman entered Hardee’s at 120 Dabney Drive through the side entrance, demanded cash, and then fled without waiting for cooperation from a cashier in a crime that took place about midafternoon on Monday. Wearing a Halloween skeleton mask, the black male pulled out a black handgun, pointed it at a
ESC needs employers for job fair By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
The Henderson branch of the North Carolina Employment Security Commission is seeking employers and service-providers to participate in its job fair Nov. 12. The effort to pair up those who want to hire with those who want to be hired will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Civic Center at Vance-Granville Community College. To reserve a spot, contact: Patricia Yarborough, job coach, at 438-6129; Jacques Hawkins, employment consultant, 438-6129; or Johnnie Carpenter, veterans employment representative, 438-6129. Contact the writer at awheless@hendersondispatch.com.
cashier, demanded money, and then turned away before the employee could even open the register, according to Detective Lt. C.O. Pulley of the Henderson Police Department. He said officers searched the nearby area along Rollins Road, Oak Street and Oxford Road. The suspect was described as 5-foot-8 and 150 to 160 pounds, wearing braided hair, with a red shirt and blue jeans. The investigation was continuing.
Daily Dispatch/ ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
An employee looks outside as Sgt. D.A. Hedgepeth of the Henderson Police Department’s forensics and evidence spreads finger printing powder on the door to Hardees after an armed robbery Monday afternoon.
Contact the writer at awheless@hendersondispatch.com.
Vance School Board members — their feathers ruffled when county commissioners recently began mulling the future of the soon-to-be-vacant Clark Street Elementary building — claimed final say-so on that building’s fate Monday night. Through its attorney, Jerry Stainback, and the legal wording in some related North Carolina General Statutes, the Board of Education made it known that it owns the facility and will decide the building’s fate after the doors shut at the end of the current school year. Students will be moving over to the new elementary school now under construction when it opens for business in August of 2010. School Board Chairwoman Gloria White mentioned that officials of the new Henderson Collegiate Charter School and the Boys & Girls Club need to come see her and her fellow board members to ask for permission to use the structure once it is vacated. Please see CLARK STREET, page 4A
City gives Beacon Light owner 14 days to prove he has financing By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
The City Council majority on Monday evening agreed to give the owner of the rundown former Beacon Light apartment complex 14 days to produce a letter from a bank or comparable evidence showing he has financing for a renovation and, through that bank, include a letter of credit to cover the city’s interest in demolition should he default on the project. All council members
except Garry Daeke voted for the extension. Daeke had stepped out of the council chambers at the time of the vote, but he told the Dispatch afterward he would have voted no. Councilman Bernard Alston was not present for Monday’s council meeting. The owner, Sharif Abdelhalim, maintained he could not come up with a letter of credit and instead wanted a stay of the council majority’s previously approved demolition ordinance and wanted
the council to allow him to work with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on a time extension to bring the 318 Boddie St. property into compliance. Abdelhalim maintained he wanted to do a renovation, bring the property up to code and meet a city requirement of the property being a place of homeownership. Griffin told the council, “The city needs to be able to maintain its independence for pulling the
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trigger outside of HUD’s independence for pulling the trigger in dealing with this in order to protect our interest that, ultimately, this property will be renovated and in compliance or it will be removed, the blight will be removed.” The HUD-sponsored low-income complex, which dates to 1973 and is located on the southeast side of the city, was closed in 2006 at the request of the previous council after the property had become notorious for crime and
unsanitary conditions. The previous council wanted Beacon Light redeveloped with singlefamily homes. Abdelhalim acquired the property for $54,000 in a 2007 foreclosure sale. A majority of the present council in August stood firm in moving ahead with an order to demolish the structures down to a green field, but made clear the city would be willing to work with Abdelhalim. Please see CITY, page 3A
Deaths
Today
Wednesday
Henderson Yvonne J. Quinn, 62
Xxxxxx
High: 77 Low: 47
Xxxxxx
Oxford
High: 50 Low: 44
Doris E. Glasco Ernest M. Hilton, 88
Details, 3A
Obituaries, 4A