CMYK Mrs. Mazie ain’t playin’ with a possum, Opinion 8A
Pentagon looks for Fort Hood lapses
Councilman recalls a vibrant downtown
Crossroads girls win in 2 OTs
Public Records, Page 6A
Local News, Page 10A
Sports, Page 1B FRIDAY, November 20, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 272
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
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Hope VI revitalization project under way
County man shot, Phase I will provide 12 apartment units in the city center on life support By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
Suspected shooter is charged with attempted murder From STAFF REPORTS
A 36-year-old Vance County man was on life support Thursday following a shooting at the home he shared with two others. Sheriff Peter White said deputies responded at about 1 a.m. Thursday to the home of Rodney Kearney at 42 N.C. 39 Loop Road Lot 44 and found he had been shot in the head with a small caliber rifle. Kearney was taken to Maria Parham Medical Center and later flown to Duke University Medical Center. White said another resident of the home, Fred Holden, 67, was charged with attempted murder and is being held without bond in the Vance County jail. No motive has been established for the shooting, White said, but alcohol may have been involved. Two other people were at the home when the shooting occurred, White said, but they were not involved in the shooting. They are Ellen Davis, 52 and who also resides at the home, and Willia Harris, 38, of 3956 Chewning Road, Oxford. Send comments to news@ hendersondispatch.com.
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 8A Light Side . . . . . . . . 11A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5B Classifieds. . . . . . . 6-9B
On a drizzly Thursday morning, but with much enthusiasm, citizens, developers, leaders and officials gathered in a building along South Garnett Street for the start of the HOPE VI Main Street Revitalization Project. “Even though it’s raining outside, it’s sunny in here for us,” City Planning Director Erris Dunston said of the event, which commemorated what is said to be the first ever beginning of a HOPE VI project in the nation. Dunston was commenting about Phase I of the project, which officials have said will provide 12 apartment units in the city center, predominately above existing retail spaces. Phase I is expected to be complete in approximately eight to nine months. The HOPE VI Main Street program was set up by the federal government. The program provides assistance to smaller communities in the development of affordable housing that is undertaken in connection with revitalizing central business districts. Dunston and Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Director Phil Lakernick wrote the grant request that resulted in the city receiving $1 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Phase I. Dunston traces the origins of the project back 818 days. Dunston and Lakernick were assigned to seek funds for the city center. And she said neither she nor Lakernick
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Downtown Development Commission director Phil Lakernick takes a swing at knocking a hole in a wall as Mayor Pro-Tem Lonnie Davis waits his turn at a wall-breaking for phase one of the Hope VI Main Street Revitalization Project Thursday morning in Downtown Henderson. Also pictured are property owners and participants in the project, Kelly Broadwell and Jason Stewardson. knew what they were doing. Dunston said when she and Lakernick thought they had completed the grant application on a Friday evening she was phoned by Lakernick about there being two more pages of requirements due by Monday morning. And Dunston recalled sitting for approximately five minutes and calling Lakernick back and saying they had to work on the two pages on Saturday and even on Sunday if they had to do so. They
Dunston
Evans
got the application in late Sunday evening with no hopes of receiving the grant. By October 2007, the $1 million was awarded “and we were ecstatic,” Dunston said. Dunston said she and Lakernick had no idea how the project was going
Sunny
High: 67 Low: 41
Saturday Mostly sun High: 61 Low: 43
Details, 3A
Deaths Austell, Ga. Daisy T. Neal, 89 Brodnax, Va. John B. White, 85 Durham John B. Bullock, 91 Henderson Louise H. Andrews, 71 Murfreesboro, Tenn. Gary E. Currin Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Benjamin F. Knott, 84 Warrenton Annie P. Alston, 91 Bernice C. Nicholson Sr., 83
Obituaries, 3-4A
Lipsky
to become a reality, but they received assistance from a HUD official, Lawrence Gnessin. Additionally, Rehab Development, of WinstonSalem and a specialist in restoring old buildings, was brought in. The company’s list of accomplishments included the
Please see HOPE VI, page 10A
Three jailed, one at large after rash of break-ins
Weather Today
Griffin
Senior Center in 2002, the old West End school in 2003 and the Professional Building this past summer, Dunston said. The total estimated cost for construction of Phase I of HOPE VI is slightly less than $1.5 million. Dunston additionally read aloud the names of those who have committed to provide the additional funding necessary to complete the project: Brian Paynter of Cornerstone Development; Jason Stewardson of CPNONE;
From STAFF REPORTS
OXFORD — A 17-yearold boy is in the Granville County Jail on $95,000 bond after the Oxford Police Department booked him for having committed a rash of acts of breaking and entering in the city. And police additionally are looking for a 21-year-old The historic Brick School at Wise is pictured in this pen-and-ink drawing by Warren County man in connection with resident Ernie Fleming. the crimes. Charged is Brandon Evans, of 230 Maple Drive. Wanted is Ty McCoy, of 200 block of Lewis Three historic buildings on project list in Wise; officers to be elected the Street. Police Chief John • The medical office of A primary need is to By DAVID IRVINE Wolford in a statement on raise funds. To provide Dr. Thomas Holt. Daily Dispatch Writer Thursday said the departan incentive for contribuErnie Fleming, Warren ment arrested Evans and tors, Fleming donated a County commissioner and WISE – The Wise Hispen-and-ink drawing of is searching for McCoy in an avid preservationist, toric Restoration Project the Brick School. He will connection with at least 10 chaired the initial meetmoved a dream one step sign and number a copy of the most recent breaking. Officers of the project closer to reality on Nov. for each of the first 200 ing and entering cases in will be elected at a future 7, when Wise-Paschall individuals who donate at Oxford, including Area meeting. Ruritan Club members least $20 to the project. Congregations in Ministry, Those attending the and community supportDonations of any Nell’s Flowers & Gifts, meeting discussed the ers met at the Wise School First Baptist Church along importance of saving these amount may be sent to campus. the Wise Historic Restora- Granville Street and C.G. three historic properties, The dream is to pretion Project, P.O. Box 46, Credle Elementary School, which have played signifiserve and restore three Wise, N.C. 27594. Checks as well as residential cant roles in the lives of historic Wise properties: should be made payable to properties. many residents of Warren • The two-story Brick Wise Historic Restoration Anyone with informaCounty and of the Wise School, which was built Project. tion as to the whereabouts community in particular. around 1904. The next meeting will of McCoy is urged to call In addition, project par• The one-story Frame police at (919) 693-3161. ticipants identified initial School, which dates from Please see WISE, page 3A Evans is charged with needs to move forward. the 1920s.
Restoration leaders closer to goal
Evans
McCoy
Duncan
Thorpe
eight counts of felony breaking and entering, five counts of larceny after breaking and entering, seven counts of injury to real property and two counts of felony possession of stolen property. Evans additionally is charged with one count of breaking and entering of a motor vehicle, one count of breaking and entering of a recreational vehicle, one count of misdemeanor attempted breaking and entering and two counts of misdemeanor possession of stolen property. Meantime, bond is $10,000 each for Jaleel Please see BREAK-INS, page 3A