CMYK N.C. court says inmates should go free
Mail stolen from Lewis area boxes
Bengal WR Henry dies in accident
Public Records, Page 6A
Local & Nation, Page 9A
Sports, Page 1B FRIDAY, December 18, 2009
Volume XCV, No. 296
(252) 436-2700
Prison term for firearm possession
www.hendersondispatch.com
Please see PRISON, page 4A
Area bridges remain closed By DISPATCH STAFF
The Harry Davis Road bridge over Grassy Creek in northern Granville County remains closed because of high water at the John H. Kerr Reservoir, the N.C. Department of Transportation said. The bridge connects motorists with the Grassy Creek Recreation Area and Mecklenburg County, Va. The bridge was closed Tuesday. Additionally, two bridges in northern Vance County — one on Nutbush Road, the other on Jacksontown Road — have been closed since Sunday because of high water, NCDOT said. Send comments to news@ hendersondispatch.com.
Index Our Hometown . . . . . 2A Business & Farm. . . . 5A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . 10A Light Side . . . . . . . . 11A Sports. . . . . . . . . . 1-4B Comics . . . . . . . . . . . 5B Classifieds. . . . . . . 6-8B
Weather Today Snow likely
High: 36 Low: 31
Saturday Snow likely
High: 35 Low: 28
Details, 3A
Deaths Bullock Robert L. Williamson, 63 Henderson Marvin E. Faulkner Jr., 84 Daisy Ross Hunt, 77 Oxford Jerry E. Johnson, 76
Obituaries, 4A
50 cents
Snow, sleet coming to call Where’s
bidding to end?
By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
A 34-year-old Norlina man received a 55-month prison sentence Dec. 11, when he pleaded guilty in Federal Court to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. When Henderson Police officers arrested Ronald Keith Hargrove Hargrove on some outstanding warrants on Nov. 28, 2008, they charged him with having a .45-caliber handgun with him at the time. Through the work of the police department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Hargrove
Southerland tract attracts another offer By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
by holdover Commissioner Walter Cantley. New Commissioner Ron Bullock, who was appointed to the committee, was in attendance Wednesday, along with holdover Commissioner and Property Committee Chairman Bob Williford, new Commissioner and Finance Committee Chairman Danny Currin and City Manager Mark Donham. Thomas, at an Oct. 1, 2008, joint meeting of the commission’s property and public works committees, said estimates from Dewberry that showed engineering work at the junction of Goshen and Cherry would cost approximately $19,000 and that construction would cost ap-
The counteroffer is now $155,000 for the Southerland’s Mill Pond tract in the southeastern part of Vance County. State Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange, submitted a bid Monday, topping a Dec. 1 bid of $147,050 by Robert Southerland, a former city councilman and whose family once owned the property. Faison’s counteroffer means another 10-day bidding process will start. City Clerk Pam Glover said an official notice is expected to be in the Dispatch by Saturday, with the bidding deadline being 5 p.m. Dec. 29. The city acquired the Southerland’s Mill Pond tract in 1952 for $51,000. The council approved a resolution July 27 stating the city’s intent to sell the land, with Garry Daeke casting the lone no vote. Daeke dissented about the municipal government selling land at $8,000 less than what the city paid more than a half-century ago. Daeke was referring to Southerland, who made the first offer, which was $43,000.
Please see STORM WATER, page 3A
Please see BIDDING, page 3A
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
The worst of winter is headed this way. A team from the North Carolina Department of Transportation pretreats Chestnut Street Thursday with salt brine in anticipation of winter weather Friday and Saturday across the Tri-County area. The salt brine is applied to the road surface to prevent the formation or development of bonded snow and ice for easier removal. The area is under a winter storm advisory from noon today until 7 p.m. on Saturday. Freezing rain and sleet are possible after midnight today, with snow and sleet accumulating about an inch. Additional accumulation of snow on Saturday is possible.
Storm water control could cost more ‘Modest increase’ of dollar a month would help pick up pace of studies, projects By WILLIAM F. WEST Daily Dispatch Writer
OXFORD — Residents could be paying $1 a month more in the amount they pay for storm water control efforts. City Public Works Director Larry Thomas said the Dewberry engineering firm of Raleigh is recommending a “modest increase” in the anti-pollution component of Oxford ratepayers’ bills. Thomas is specifically recommending the $1 a month increase, to take effect in Fiscal Year 2010-2011 if approved by the City Commission.
Thomas, at a Wednesday meeting of the commission’s Public Works Committee, said he and Dewberry representatives want to talk with the committee because “we’d like to see some acceleration of some of these storm water studies and these storm water projects.” Goshen Street and the junction of Goshen and Cherry Street remain prone to flooding and there are drainage problems along Maluli Drive at the southeastern edge of the city and along Country Club Drive at Quail Ridge Road near Thorndale Country Club, Thomas said. “At some point in time between now and budget time we’ll be coming back to you, talking about storm water,” Thomas told the committee. The committee is now chaired
Hughes cleared, intends to file for commission
Vance panel likes leasing land to school
By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
By AL WHELESS Daily Dispatch Writer
Only hours after a Craven County District Court judge cleared the way Thursday for Scott Hughes to join the army, the Vance Commissioner said he might not. During a telephone interview, Hughes added that he still intends to file in February to run for a second term representing District 7 on the Board of Commissioners. He is considering “other opportunities,” instead of going to OfHughes ficer Candidate School, according to Hughes. The judge dismissed a misdemeanor charge against Hughes. The warrant had been taken out on Sept. 21 by Russell Railnear of Havelock. He had accused Hughes — who was arrested in Henderson on the warrant on Oct. 10 — of sending a threatening e-mail to his Facebook page. According to a spokesman for the Havelock Police Department, Railnear told officers he had met Hughes’ estranged wife “at school.” Railnear had also mentioned to police, the spokesman said, that
Property Committee members will recommend Jan. 4 that Vance Commissioners lease about two acres off Old County Home Road to the Henderson Collegiate Charter School. In return for the temporary site that would allow classes for 100 freshmen to begin next August, the school would pay the County $1 a year for three years. Charter School officials who met Thursday with the Property Committee included: Nancy Jo Smith, chairwoman of the board of directors; Dr. Cornelius Cathcart, a board member; and Eric Sanchez, co-founder and school planner. A special use permit for education is needed from the Board of Adjustment to operate the school on Health Center Road. The property is zoned Office & Institutional. Sanchez said the school
Please see HUGHES, page 4A
Daily Dispatch/ASHLEY STEVEN AYSCUE
Keeping kids safe Lt. Irvin Robinson and SPO Angela Feingold, above work on assembling a toddler car seat during a Safe Kids child safety seat inspection in the Compare Foods parking lot Thursday afternoon. Below, Feingold straps Shymere Puryear and his booster seat into his mom Celcia’s car.
Please see VANCE, page 3A