CMYK Permit for homeless shelter for men OK’d From Page One, Page 3A
U.S. tops world in health care spending Business & Farm, Page 5A
Assessing pre-blame for climate-change summit Opinion, Page 6A Northern’s Nalinda Woods shoots over Warren’s Jessica Davis in second half of Vikings 62-47 win.
Northern Vance boys beat Warren County Sports, Page 1B
Sports, 1B
Good Taste, Page 1C WEDNESDAY, December 9, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 288
(252) 436-2700
www.hendersondispatch.com
Owner of ‘nuisance’ property rebuffed
School’s name list narrowed Panel chooses Clark-Carmel for new elementary By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
The naming committee for Vance’s newest elementary school agreed Tuesday night on “Clark-Carmel” as its first choice, and “C.H. Brown” as its second. The seven members of the panel are expected to present their preferences next Monday night to the School Board, which will have the final sayso, and can choose any name it wants. The committee deliberated less than 25 minutes Tuesday night before deciding on their first pick. It reflects the site of the soon-to-be-closed Clark Street Elementary School, and carries the identity of Mount Carmel Church Road, which will be the entrance to the new facility. Two adjacent roads — Garrett on the north and Rock Mill on the east — didn’t make the cut. A number of students Please see SCHOOL, page 4A
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 6A Light Side . . . . . . . . . 7A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-3B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 2C Classifieds. . . . . . . 3-5C
Weather Today T-storms likely High: 66 Low: 38
Thursday Sunny, cooler
City has option to demolish Beacon Light Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Kinrecka Anderson uses a pipet to practice placing her DNA sample into a petri dish filled with gel as her lab partner, Sashikeka Hendricks, looks on during their “Get A Clue” science experiment Tuesday afternoon on the UNCChapel Hill’s science bus at Southern Vance High School.
In UNC’s rolling science lab, students help solve mystery By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
More than 40 Southern Vance High School students helped solve a make-believe murder mystery Tuesday during a visit by a rolling science lab. Their teacher, Wendi Leas, let her honors and introductory biology classes take turns using some of the sophisticated testing equipment inside Discovery, one of two $300,000 buses operated by the University of North Carolina. They also got a running lecture from Polly Dornette, a science education specialist who made them don gloves to protect the expensive devices and goggles to shield their eyes. “We have a rule that everybody who can see when they get on the bus must be able to see when they get off the bus.” In addition, Dornette taught them to “cough like a scientist” into their elbow, not on their
Details, 3A
Deaths Conyers, Ga. Artis Hargrove, 70 Henderson William E. Livengood, 66 Oxford Johnnie Crews, 90 Gladys W. Crowder, 67 Doris L. McCray, 71
Obituaries, 4A
gloves, to ensure the continued health of the gadgets at 11 learning stations. She quizzed the students on related facts Leas had taught them during pre-lab activities. After the 90-minute session was over, they would focus back in class on what they had seen, heard and done. Inside Discovery — which is 40 feet long, weighs 36,000 pounds and gets about seven miles per gallon of diesel fuel — the students performed DNA restriction analysis, which is also known as DNA fingerprinting. To find out which of two suspects was the murderer, they used the process to analyze drops of fake blood and other evidence found at the crime scene. The students weren’t told that the DNA belonged to bacteria, not to animals. Both Discovery and the other bus, Destiny, make up the outreach program operated by UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Sci-
ence Center. Principal funding comes from the State of North Carolina, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and GlaxoSmithKline. Eric Brown, who is retiring this month after driving and maintaining Discovery for a decade, estimated that each of the buses travels as much as 25,000 miles a year. The two vehicles go to a total of about 180 high and middle schools across the state to hold classes three days a week during a 30-week period. Brown said he has been parking Discovery at Southern Vance for six years, and at Northern Vance for eight or nine. On Thursday, Justyn Phelps’ honors biology students will climb aboard the bus at NVHS to try to solve the same murder mystery. Contact the writer at awheless@hendersondispatch.com.
By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
The Zoning Board of Adjustment on Tuesday turned back a request by the owner of the dilapidated former Beacon Light apartment complex for a special use permit for a unified residential development and for a variance to modify setback requirements to the property. Board member Ruxton Bobbitt led the votes in the city matter. And Bobbitt said, “Overall, the property has been a nuisance for the city, not only over the last three years, but over the life of the project.” There was no dissenting vote and property owner Ahmad Halim was not present. “The buildings have been sitting empty for a reason,” Bobbitt said. “No one testified as to why, but the owner has a reason that he hasn’t done anything with this property during the time that he has owned it.” Bobbitt was referring to the board’s Nov. 3 hearing. Moments before Tuesday’s board votes, City Planning Director Erris Dunston noted 21 concerns having been expressed by the Technical Review Committee, which is comprised of key city leaders, in the permitting and zoning process. Dunston noted Halim having submitted a Please see BEACON, page 3A
Plan: Bank loans for hospital upgrade Granville sets public hearing on county borrowing $13.5 million By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
High: 49 Low: 25
50 cents
OXFORD — The Granville County Commission approved setting a public hearing at the 7 p.m. Jan. 4 commission meeting on a proposed contract for financing a substantial upgrade of the Granville Health System hospital in Oxford. The plan calls for the county to obtain approximately $13.5 million in bank loans to help finance the project, which includes expanding the emergency department, constructing a new surgical suite and constructing a new central energy plant building, County Finance Director Michael Felts told the newspaper. Felts told the newspaper the health system will come up with
the rest of the funding for the project, which is expected to cost at least $20 million. The N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation already approved a certificate of need for the county-owned hospital, which is located at 1016 College St./U.S. 15. And the county will need approval from the Local Government Commission, which is staffed by the state treasurer’s office and has helped cities with their finances since the Great Depression. The financing for the hospital was one of a list of items the commissioners dealt with in an approximately hour-long meeting on Monday. The commissioners quickly approved accepting a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant for the scattered site hous-
ing program to address the most critical housing needs of lowincome families. The N.C. Department of Commerce already approved the county’s application. The Henderson-based Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments helped the county apply for the $400,000, with $360,000 to be used for rehabilitation, acquisition or demolition of houses and relocations. The remaining $40,000 will be marked for urgent repairs, with a maximum of $5,000 allowed for each site. The commissioners additionally approved taking steps toward the possible issuance of economic recovery zone bonds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which is the Please see GRANVILLE, page 4A
Wanted The Granville County Sheriff’s Office needs help identifying suspects involved in recent crimes. Surveillance photos show two suspects entering the Providence Fire Department off Watkins Road and one suspect at the Missing Link grocery at U.S. 15 and Smith Road. Anyone with any information is urged to phone the Sheriff’s Office at (919) 693-3213 or Crime Stoppers at (919) 693-3100.