CMYK KVA publishes new fund-raiser cookbook Jet-winged adventurer ditches in Atlantic Our Hometown, Page 2A
Bobcats blow out Raptors
World, Page 8A
Sports, Page 1B THURSDAY, November 26, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 277
(252) 436-2700
Bowles: Future of N.C. is linked to education By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
From STAFF REPORTS
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . 10A Light Side . . . . . . . . 11A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 6B Classifieds. . . . . . . 7-9B
Weather Today Partly cloudy
High: 65 Low: 38
Friday Mostly sunny
High: 53 Low: 33
Details, 3A
Deaths Butner Edith Edwards, 66 Lundy Worthan III Henderson Perry J. Ayscue, 61 Catherine Caloz Hazel R.L. Durham, 74 Mary J. Harris, 91 Rodney Kearney, 36 Edward A. Whitney Jr., 63 Richmond, Va. Henry W. Bullock Sr., 78 Stem Virginia C. Blair, 88 Stovall Isabell T. Davis, 106 Warrenton Michael Roberson, 59 Washington, D.C. Vernell Bullock, 62
Obituaries, 3-4A
50 cents
Students must be ready to compete
Crimes of the Month break-ins Local law enforcement is asking for the public’s help in solving two crimes of the month. On Nov. 5 around 5:30 p.m. and Nov. 8 around 3:40 p.m., officers with the Henderson Police Department responded to two vehicles break-ins at the Cracker Barrel on Ruin Creek Road. Property was taken from both vehicles. The Criminal Investigations Section is continuing the investigation. On Oct. 9 about 8:30 a.m., the Vance County Sheriff’s Office responded to Cooks Chapel Methodist Church at 200 Center St. in reference to a breaking and entering and larceny. Suspects took a copy machine, sound system, microphones and other items from the church. Entry was gained by taking an air conditioner out of the window. Anyone with information about these crimes should call the Henderson Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at 438-4141, the Vance County Sheriff’s Office Investigation Division at 738-2200 or Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at 492-1925. Callers to Crime Stoppers do not have to give their names. Anonymous tips can also be posted on the Web site www. hvcrimestoppers.com. Crime Stoppers will pay rewards up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for these criminal offenses.
www.hendersondispatch.com
Daily Dispatch/AL CREWS
Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, addresses the crowd gathered at the Granville Chamber of Commerce’s annual Thanksgiving breakfast Wednesday morning at the Oxford Baptist Church.
OXFORD — UNC System President Erskine Bowles on Wednesday said the bottom line is the state must prepare students for a knowledge-based worldwide economy. “Our competitors are not just in Virginia or South Carolina
or Georgia. Our competitors are global,” Bowles told the Granville County Chamber of Commerce’s annual pre-Thanksgiving breakfast at Oxford Baptist Church. And Bowles said, “The future of North Carolina is actually linked to the education of our people.” And Bowles pledged that the UNC System will deliver and additionally will help the state come out of “this great recession” and into a stronger position. Bowles, who holds a master of business administration from Columbia University and whose career has included working in
the corporate world, spoke about the present tough economic conditions and seeing closed retail shops, distribution centers and manufacturing plants. Bowles said the UNC System has not been immune to the pain, noting the elimination of more than 900 jobs. “We cut our budget this year by $294 million. That’s on top of $170 million last year and $50 million the year before that,” Bowles said. Bowles in an e-mail this past summer scolded university chanPlease see STUDENTS, page 9A
It’s time to pick a name for school
It’s Soooo-ul Delicious
From STAFF REPORTS
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Dozens wait outside So-ul Delicious just after opening for the restaurant’s free Thanksgiving meals Wednesday morning. Inside, from left, Shirley Terry, Pam Harris, Benisha Terry and Rosa Perry serve up free meals for hungry customers.
Obama pardons a turkey named ‘Courage’ By NATASHA T. METZLER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — After 10 months in office, President Barack Obama on Wednesday granted his first pardon — to Courage, a 45-pound turkey spared from the Thanksgiving table. Accompanied by daughters Sasha and Malia, Obama stood under the North Portico of the White House to honor a holiday tradition that dates to 1947 — receiving a bird from the National Turkey Federation. Later in the day, Obama and his family passed out turkeys and fixings to the needy. “I’m told Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson actually ate their turkeys,” Obama said. “You can’t fault them for that; that’s a good-looking bird.” President George H.W. Bush was the first to officially pardon a turkey. Obama joked about wanting to forgo the tradition and eat Cour-
Please see SCHOOL, page 9A
Have you seen Granville man? From STAFF REPORTS AP Photo/Alex Brandon
cern in the residential area because a woman who lives along Kipling Drive on the evening of Nov. 18 was accosted by a man and robbed of her purse after she parked her car in the driveway and began unloading it.
The Granville County Sheriff’s Department needs help finding a missing 55-year-old man. Daniel Allen was last seen riding a red moped with a square tail light on West Lyon Station Road and heading toward Stem. Allen is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds and has Allen brown eyes and gray hair. He was last seen wearing a blue shirt, blue jeans, a white helmet and white shoes. He has a history of alcohol use. He was last seen on Oct. 4. Anyone with information as to his whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (919) 693-3213.
Send comments to news@hendersondispatch.com.
Send comments to news@hendersondispatch.com.
President Barack Obama, right, with daughters, Sasha Obama, 8, Malia Obama, 11, reacts with Walter Pelletier, chairman of the National Turkey Federation, as Malia reaches to pet a turkey, Courage, the day before Thanksgiving, during a ceremony in the North Portico of the White House in Washington. age. “Thanks to the interventions of Malia and Sasha — because I was planning to eat this sucker
— Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate,” Please see TURKEY, page 7A
Dump truck hits power pole — lights out From STAFF REPORTS
OXFORD — The Oxford Park residential area suffered a power blackout at approximately 7:25 p.m. Wednesday after the electrical supply had been weak for several minutes. A person answering the customer service line for the Wake Electric co-
Southern Elementary School? Or maybe Charlotte Hawkins Brown Elementary? Those two names are among 16 that have been suggested for the new elementary school under construction across from Southern Vance High. Clark Street Elementary School students, anxiously awaiting the opening of their new school in the fall of 2010, may find themselves going to Clark-Garrett Elementary School, a combination of the names of the locations of the current school in East Henderson and the new school location on Garrett Road. Or they could be in a school named for one of several wellknown individuals — some alive, some deceased — such as Margaret Ellis Elementary, named for the vice chairman of the Vance County Board of Education and a long-time advocate for Clark Street school; Dr. James P. Green Elementary, named for the late physician who was a local civil rights advocate and a member of the N.C. House of Representatives; and Dr. Malone Parham Elementary, another local physician now deceased. These 16 suggested names will be open for public comment during a public hearing that has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3, in the auditorium at E.M. Rollins Elementary School. The public is invited to attend the hearing and offer its input into the naming of the new school in the southern part of Vance
operative, when contacted approximately 8:30 p.m., said power had been restored for approximately 2030 minutes, with the outage having been caused by a dump truck driver having backed into a power pole. The residential area is a satellite annexation off Horner Siding Road northeast of Oxford proper. There has been continuing con-