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PARTY ON THE PLANK: Breathing life into downtown. SUNDAY
DON DAVIS JR. | HPE
House on the market on Kingsfield Drive in Trinity.
Home sales fall
January 16, 2010 125th year No. 16
GEARING UP: High school opens new auto tech lab. 1B
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
FIRST LOSS: Southwest Guilford girls stop Bison streak. 1C
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HAITI’S MISERY MOUNTS
WHO’S NEWS
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Wake Forest University law student Kelly Beth Bowker won the final round of the 38th annual Stanley Moot Court Competition. The competition in presenting legal arguments as in a court is sponsored by the Wake Forest University School of Law Moot Court Board.
Lack of contact torments friends, relatives
BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
TRIAD – A shift in focus from house shopping to Christmas shopping may be the reason for a decline in High Point home sales last month, officials said. Home sales in the city dropped 19 percent from November, when 115 units were sold, to December, when 93 units were sold, according to data released by the Triad Multiple Listings Service. Home sales were up 5 percent from the same time last year, however. The average sale price also dropped from $135,343 in November to $122,502 last month. At the same time last year, the average sale price was $164,268. “I think our December 2008 sales were negatively impacted by the sub-prime fiasco,” said Ed Terry, executive vice president of the High Point Regional Association of Realtors. “December 2009 sales were seasonal in terms of the market being less active due to people focusing on Christmas and fearing that the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit was missed and the program was extinct.” Home sales in the Triad area also fell 20 percent last month from November but were up 7 percent compared to last year. The average sale price of a home in the Triad rose from $151,863 to $168,526. The impact of the tax credit seemed to taper off in December after many homebuyers rushed to take advantage of the program before its original deadline of Nov. 30, said Ken Wall, newly elected president of HPRAR. Since the tax credit has been extended to April 30 and expanded to previous homeowners, Wall expects the tax credit to slowly build up momentum in the housing market again until its next deadline. “I’m expecting to see a good January market as buyers get passed the holidays and get back to looking at homes,” said Wall, with Providence Realty on Eastchester Drive. “We expect to see the activity increase and be really good over the first six months of the year due to the tax credit.” Wall said programs that went into effect this month, such as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in High Point, may boost sales in the first half of the year. The program offers down payment assistance up to $7,500 in the form of a three-year deferred loan to eligible applicants. phaynes@hpe.com | 888-3617
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AP
Desperation leads scavengers to look for goods amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince Friday.
Local church members seek assistance getting information
CONTACT NUMBERS
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Local representatives can assist U.S. citizens in contacting constituents:
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• Greensboro office of Rep. Mel Watt, D-12: 275-9950
BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
For information about travel to Haiti, log onto www.travel. state.gov.
don’t get anyone else. We just see John Robert Pierre, pastor of First the news.” Pierre, who came to the states as Haitian Sanctified Church of God in Thomasville, and his congregation a refugee through World Relief in 1996, and one man and one woman hope to build orphanage in Haiti. from his 25-person congregation were greeted by Nancy Mazaa, surrounding areas on Jan. 12. “We do not have any other way district representative for the conbut just to call,” said Pierre, who gressman. Pierre has three brothis from Cerca-Cavajal, about con- ers and other extended family in tacting his loved ones. “I keep trying and calling and calling, but we HAITI, 2A
WEATHER
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DON DAVIS JR. | HPE
Washington Drive residents welcome anti-crime initiative HIGH POINT – For years, John Frederick has watched the foot traffic come and go from crack houses half a block away from the historic church where he serves as a deacon. First Baptist Church on Washington Drive – the oldest AfricanAmerican church in the city – has soldiered on as open-air drug markets and other crime have taken a toll on the neighborhood, Frederick said. “You’ll see individuals making purchases and leaving, and sometimes people would leave the house and go to the car and service them and they would just drive off,” he said, adding that he believes such activity has kept people away from the church who would oth-
James Anthony, 86 Barbara David, 71 Rhonda Green, 38 Everett Greer, 83 Louis Merlin, 88 Helen Stone, 69 Billy Walker, 74 Obituaries, 2B
• Greensboro office of Rep. Brad Miller, D-13: 574-2909
Officials warn of charity scams. 2A Disbelief, desperation, despair. 3A
BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
OBITUARIES
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• Greensboro office of Rep. Howard Coble, R-6: 333-5005
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THOMASVILLE – Jean Robert Pierre, minister of First Haitian Sanctified Church of God in Thomasville, traveled with two members of his congregation to Greensboro on Friday morning out of desperation. The three natives of Haiti went to the local office of Rep. Howard Coble, R-6th District, for assistance in contacting friends and relatives whom they haven’t been able to contact since a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and
PASS AND PLAY: GPA requirements for athletes change. 1B
erwise come. “People are afraid. They don’t know whether these people are going to rob them or do something to them to get funds to feed their habits. It’s overrunning our church property.” Frederick and others said they were pleased that the High Point Police Department is devoting special attention to the Washington Drive corridor. Police have made the neighborhood the latest initiative area, targeting drug markets and associated violent crime. “People are happy that something is happening,” said the Rev. Frank Thomas of Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Washington Drive. “What dividend it will pay, we don’t know yet. But at this point, from my perspective, something is better than nothing, and if the police department thinks this initiative is going to affect it, then I
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welcome it with open arms.” The police strategy centers on identifying key offenders from the area and developing criminal cases against them. Police also are trying to shut down and seize suspected drug houses on Hobson Street that they allege are at the center of criminal activity in the area, including shootings, assaults and all manner of drug crime. “One of the major frustrations I hear in the community is that sketchy things have been going on for a long time, and there has been the appearance that it’s acceptable. And that’s from possibly the lack of intervention from authorities – police, the city, whomever,” Thomas said. “So I think people feel like there has to be a noticeable police presence to make a difference.” pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531
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