CMYK Boy feared in homemade balloon found
If the dress fits, marry
Southern beats Northern, sweeps series
Nation, Page 8A
Opinion, Page 10A
Sports, Page 1B FRIDAY, October 16, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 242
(252) 436-2700
Show, Shine, Shag & Dine Annual event ready to welcome 50,000 fans, 1,500 vehicles
www.hendersondispatch.com
Please see SHOW, SHINE, page 3A
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Public Records . . . . . 6A Nation . . . . . . . . . . 8-9A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . 10A Light Side . . . . . . . . 11A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-5B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 6B Classifieds. . . . . . . 8-9B
Weather Today Cool
High: 57 Low: 40
Saturday Cloudy
High: 61 Low: 41
Details, 3A
Deaths Corpus Christi, Texas Julia H. Wood, 89 Henderson Mary R. Alston, 69 William Jordan, 81 Ann B. Jordon, 80 Charlie D. Kersey, 45 Cherry Terry, 85 Clifton Watkins, 57
50 cents
Brothers maintaining family Oxford to replace cemetery, but access difficult
PD boiler 1978 model operating at half capacity
By DAVID IRVINE Daily Dispatch Writer
This weekend will focus the attention of the community and region on cars, cars, cars. Show, Shine, Shag & Dine — an annual event sponsored by Vance County Tourism — begins today with social events for guests at area hotels and motels, continues with a car show on Saturday, and culminates with the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame reunion and induction ceremony on Sunday. Tourism Executive Director Nancy Wilson estimates that the event will involve 1,500 vehicles and will draw as many as 50,000 fans to the area. The car show on Saturday will include cars of various styles and vintages. They will grace Garnett, Williams and Breckenridge streets in downtown Henderson, where fans can view the cars, talk with the owners, sample foods and buy souvenirs offered by the many participating vendors. Numerous celebrities are scheduled to attend, many with their equally famous cars. Visitors will be able to inspect legendary cars, talk to the owners and drivers and have a photo made with them. Mammoth Corbitt trucks, made over half a century ago in Henderson, will offer a contrast with
By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Alton Abbott drives his 1996 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 Thursday afternoon into a muddy portion of a rightof-way path provided for the Abbott family to access their family cemetery off Martin Creek Road. Generations of Abbott family are buried in this isolated half-acre site. Abbott and his brother, Wade, take turns cutting the grass and keeping the area clear.
Efforts for a better route into the half-acre site futile By DAVID IRVINE Daily Dispatch Writer
On the outskirts of Henderson between Vanco Mill Road and Martin Creek Road, the Abbott family cemetery contains some two dozen headstones that document the lives and life spans of the clan. The cemetery may not mean much to the Henderson community at large, but it holds a valued spot in the memories of the Abbott family. Two Abbott brothers, Alton and Wade, alternate maintaining the area so that they and their sisters, Peggy Clayton and Nancy Edwards, can feel it is an appropriate resting place for family members. Now, however, there is a blot on the family memory. The cemetery is all but inaccessible. It was cut off from access from Vanco Mill Road with the construction of the WalMart Distribution Center. The only remaining access to the cemetery is an unpaved and muddy trail from Martin Creek Road. It is navigable with difficulty in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. When the next member of the family is to be buried, it is questionable whether a hearse will be able to enter the cemetery. Alton Abbott has taken up the cause of obtaining more appropriate access to the cemetery. He has approached WalMart and the
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Alton Abbott stands next to the headstone of his parents Malcoin E. “Coin” Abbott and Daisy Mae Mangum Abbott at the family cemetery off Martin Creek Road Thursday afternoon. Vance County administration without results. Abbott says that when property is cut off through the sale of adjacent land, as the cemetery is, reasonable access must be available. “Does this look like ‘reasonable access’ to you?” he asked a Daily Dispatch reporter, as he drove him along that unpaved trail. When the reporter called the WalMart Distribution Center to get the company’s position on the issue, he was referred to the
RALEIGH — A cadre of murderers and rapists, Obituaries, 4A several of whom victimized young girls, will be set free from North Carolina prisons this month after state courts agreed that a decades-old law defined life sentences as only 80
years long. Dozens more inmates could be released in the coming months unless the state can figure out a legal recourse to keep them behind bars, officials said Thursday. Gov. Beverly Perdue called them “dangerous criminals” who have repeatedly been denied parole.
Please see OXFORD, page 3A
WalMart home office in Arkansas. A call there connected him with a person who said she couldn’t respond but would have a company official contact him. No telephone call has been received. Meanwhile, when members of the Abbott family want to visit the cemetery to mow the grass or contemplate their relatives’s names, they must drive that muddy trail in a four-wheel-drive truck. Contact the writer at dirvine@hendersondispatch.com.
20 violent inmates going free under '70s law By MIKE BAKER Associated Press Writer
OXFORD — The City Commission on Tuesday evening gave the go-ahead to replace a worn- out boiler at the Police Department for a far less cost than was discussed at the previous week’s agenda meeting. The city will pay AireWise Inc. $5,421 from the municipal fund balance and additionally will rely on a $2,500 contribution from Walmart. “This is a bargain,” Commissioner Bob Williford said, drawing chuckles from his fellow commissioners as he noted his paying $6,000 for work on his residence. The boiler dates back to the 1978 dedication of the Police Department building, which is located at 204 E. McClanahan St. at the northeastern edge of the central business district. The boiler has been operating at 50 percent capacity, city officials said in documents. The boiler needed to be replaced for approximately three years, the officials said. And the boiler may not pass state inspection, the officials added. During the Oct. 5 agenda meeting, the commission had agreed to consider approving a budget amendment of $10,254 on Tuesday for the heating system, with the quote being $12,754 from Mike Brummitt Heating & Cooling and with the $2,500 contribution from Walmart to be used to cover the difference. During Tuesday’s regular monthly session, Com-
“I’m appalled that the state of North Carolina is being forced to release prisoners who have committed the most heinous of crimes, without any review of their cases,” Perdue said in a statement. One of the inmates, Bobby Bowden, had argued that a law adopted in 1974 clearly defined life
sentences as just 80 years. The convicted murder believed that the statute, combined with good conduct credits, means his life sentence is now complete. The Court of Appeals sided with Bowden last year. North Carolina’s Supreme Court rejected Please see INMATES, page 3A
Submitted photo
Caught by camera Henderson Police are looking for this gunman who wore a Halloween skeleton mask Monday at 6:45 p.m. when he robbed JJ’s Fish & Chicken in the 1200 block of East Andrews Avenue. The thief was described as black, 5-foot-8 to 6-foot tall, 200 to 215 pounds. Anyone with information should call the police department at (252) 438-4141 or Crime Stoppers at (252) 492-1925.