CMYK Granville Little Theatre to present ‘Willy Wonka Jr.’ Our Hometown, Page 2A
N.C. utility to shut down 11 older coal plants Business & Farm, Page 5A
Washington, home of intellectual hyprocrisy
REAL
Opinion, Page 8A KVA’s Tyler Overby gathers in a rebound in Spartans’ game against Lighthouse Christian.
Holiday Helpings
Vikings surge past Eagles
Good Taste, Page 1C
Sports, Page 1B
Sports 1B
from Bobby Flay
WEDNESDAY, December 2, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 282
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
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Granville Father mulls wrongful death suit teacher Says son was ill, not drunk, should have been taken to hospital, not to jail indicted By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Child pornography on his computer, authorities charge By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — Suspended Northern Granville Middle School teacher Larry Wayne Morgan has been indicted for 10 counts of felony thirddegree sexual exploitation of a minor. The grand jury met on Monday and the true bills were made Morgan public on Tuesday morning. Morgan, 43, of 105 Seaman St., on Oct. 19 turned himself in at the Oxford Police Department after a probe by police and the State Bureau of Investigation. Law enforcement officers had received
Both the Vance County Sheriff’s Office and Benny Perry Jr. are waiting for information in connection with the death Friday morning of his son, Alphonso Perry. The father said Tuesday that he is contemplating filing a wrongful death suit against both Vance County and the City of Henderson, and has contacted a law firm. During an interview, Perry contended that his son was sick when Henderson Police officers found him lying in a ditch along Ham-
ilton Street early Friday morning, and should have immediately been taken to a hospital instead of the Vance County Jail. The younger Perry was pronounced dead in the emergency room at Maria Parham Medical Center after being transported from the jail for treatment of an apparent illness. Sheriff Peter White said Tuesday that Perry was in a drunken state when police found him, and when he arrived at the jail. An autopsy should reveal why Perry died and a related toxycology report should indicate any amounts of alcohol or other drugs found in Perry’s body, White explained.
In a press release issued Monday, the Sheriff said Perry was not under arrest, but was brought to the jail by police officers because he was intoxicated. Emergency Medical Services was called around 1:25 a.m. on Friday, White said, after Perry began showing signs of breathing difficulty while changing from soaking wet street clothes into the jail jumpsuit. It had been raining, and there had been water in the ditch where Perry had been lying, the Sheriff added. He said Perry was not placed in any cell during his brief time at the jail.
indicted for wife’s murder By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
Voting for the allocation were Mayor Pro Tem and Public Safety Committee Chairman Howard Herring and Commissioners Paul Kiesow, Chance Wilkinson and Bob Williford. Voting no were Cantley and Commissioners Steve Powell and Bob Shope. Donham on July 23 told a joint session of four commission committees that he would be off for a week, but that he and Police Chief and Acting Fire Chief John Wolford had obtained a preliminary copy of the study and would sit down and discuss any errors or inaccuracies they found in the approximately 190-page document and ask the association to make the corrections. The newspaper asked Donham at the time when he wanted to
OXFORD — Scott Morris has been indicted for first-degree murder of his wife, Kelly Currin Morris, and the burning of the couple’s residence. The grand jury met on Monday and the true bills were made public on Tuesday morning. Scott Morris, 35, of 113 W. Church St., Creedmoor, was booked and jailed without bond on Nov. 17. A deputy court clerk told the newspaper Morris that, with the case now moved from District Court to Superior Court, a court date will not be set until sometime in January. In another development on Tuesday, a foreclosure sale was set for the burned home, which is located at 3220 Tump Wilkins Road southeast of Stem. The sale will be at 10 a.m. on Jan. 5 outside the Superior Court Clerk’s Office. An affidavit filed with the court by Wells Fargo Bank said Scott Morris has defaulted on his payments, with the last payment made having been for the period ending on Sept. 30, 2008. The affidavits said the current principal balance is $219,906 plus interest at a rate of 6.13 percent each year from the last payment made, along with any other charges and costs. Wells Fargo Bank cited as evidence a note signed on Feb. 20, 2007, by Scott Morris, promising to pay a sum of $224,000 plus interest to the lender, American Home Mortgage, which later filed for bankruptcy protection. Additionally, Wells Fargo Bank cited as evidence the deed signed by Scott Morris and Kelly Currin
Please see STUDY, page 7A
Please see MORRIS, page 3A
Index
Weather Today Rain likely
High: 60 Low: 60
Thursday Partly cloudy
High: 64 Low: 36
Details, 3A
Deaths
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Members of the Greater Little Zion Holy Church choir lead those in attendance in singing “Joy to the World” during the Light the Night ceremony on Garnett Street Tuesday night. Mayor Pete O’Geary welcomed the crowd and remarks were heard from City Manager Ray Griffin and Jason Stewardson, chairman of the Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Commission. The choir from Room at the Cross Pentecostal Holiness Church also performed “Silent Night” while Rev. Brenda Peace read scripture and Rev. Mary Emma Evans opened the ceremony with a prayer. The event was sponsored by the Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Commission.
What’s in Oxford public safety study? Panel to answer $40,000 question By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — Residents will have the chance to learn of the findings of a $40,000 study of public safety. The City Commission’s Public Safety & Litigation Committee is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Dec. 17 to discuss the report prepared by the International City/County Management Association. The session will be in the engineering conference room, which is located on the second floor of City Hall, 300 Williamsboro St. Obituaries, 3-4A The study has been a subject of controversy, as evidenced by the commission’s 4-3 vote Oct. 13 for a budget amendment to pay a final $4,000 amount owed when the document is ready. Commissioner Walter Cantley
Creedmoor Annie E. Allen, 84 Margree Winston, 74 Durham Ernest Tapp, 78 Henderson Rachel A. Best, 92 Catherine C. Caloz Lee Anne Dorr, 64 Patricia W. Gardner, 62 Gene A. Harris, 61 Jimmie L. Johnson Jr., 60 Lucy W. Marrow, 94
Contact the writer at awheless@hendersondispatch.com.
Light the Night in Downtown Henderson Morris
Please see TEACHER, page 7A
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According to Benny Perry, his son had left their home on Mulberry Street about 7 o’clock on Thanksgiving night to visit a friend who lived on Hamilton Street. The friend’s mother reported to 911 early Friday morning that Alphonso Perry was lying in the ditch in front of her house and appeared to be drunk, Benny Perry said he was told by an investigator with the Sheriff’s Office. The detective didn’t contact him at home until Saturday, Perry added.
prior to the vote unsuccessfully called for his fellow commissioners to stop this “nonsense” until the board received a full length, unedited report. City Manager Mark Donham told the commissioners the reason for the allocation was because two $18,000 payments were made to the association in Fiscal Year 2008-09 and the $4,000 had to be shifted to this fiscal year so the association can be paid when the document is open for viewing by the commissioners and the public. “The final report has not been submitted,” Donham told the commissioners. “We’re still working on drafts.” And Donham said, “We feel that it’s in the best interest of the city to make sure that we have a full and complete report before we make it public.”