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TARGET REACHED: GCS completes Habitat house project. 1B
August 1, 2010 127th year No. 213
STUFF THE BUS: Salvation Army to kick off schools supplies campaign. 1B
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
RECOVERY ACT: N.C. State linebacker bounces back. 1D
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Up on the roof Workers discover corrosion problems atop Andrews High; some students to move to Welborn BY DAVID NIVENS ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
PHOTO SUBMITTED
State Rep. Maggie Jeffus (left), D-Guilford, shares a hug with her daughter Holly Jeffus-Thomas six years ago at Christmastime. Jeffus-Thomas died unexpectedly March 27, about six weeks before the start of the 2010 legislative session.
Bittersweet session Legislator copes with loss of child while at General Assembly BY PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
GREENSBORO – As the month of March began, veteran state Rep. Maggie Jeffus envisioned her primary concern during this year as the 2010 session of the N.C. General Assembly. Jeffus, D-Guilford, serves a key role among the Democratic leadership in the House and is a former chairwoman of the Guilford County legislative delegation. As winter began to turn toward spring five months ago, Jeffus concentrated on the need to close another significant budget shortfall while helping craft a $19 billion state budget. She attended committee meetings in Raleigh as the General Assembly prepared to convene in mid-May. At the start of March, it appeared Jeffus was preparing for a year that would seem familiar to the nine-term representative and retired Guilford County schoolteacher. By the end of March, Jeffus and her husband, Ted Thompson, were coping with personal devastation while burying their only daughter. On March 27, 52-year-old Holly Jeffus-Thomas died from cardiac arrest and complications from cancer at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital. What first was believed a case of bronchi-
The tenor of Jeffus-Thomas’ examination changed – during tests, doctors detected what could be malignant cells. And her health began to decline rapidly. tis, then perhaps pneumonia, progressed rapidly to consume the mother of two 6-year-old girls who lived in the Stoney Creek community of eastern Guilford County. Months after losing her daughter, Jeffus’ voice still cracks when she recalls the downward spiral that medical professionals couldn’t stop. Jeffus and her daughter remained confident through much of March that her daughter’s breathing problems would subside, that the medication Jeffus-Thomas was taking would restore her health. But when Jeffus-Thomas was admitted to Moses Cone during the last week of March, then transferred to the intensive care unit and
AT A GLANCE
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A memorial fund was established earlier this year for contributions to an educational fund for Amanda and Samantha Thomas, the daughters of the late Holly JeffusThomas of Guilford County. Contributions may be made in care of the girls’ education account at State Employees Credit Union, P.O. Box 328, Whitsett, NC 27377.
Inside...
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Politics evaporated when Rep. Jeffus lost her only daughter. 2A placed on a respirator, Jeffus began to worry forcefully. Medical professionals remained hopeful as the last weekend of March arrived, saying they still believed Jeffus-Thomas could recover, Jeffus said. On March 27, Jeffus and Thompson left Moses Cone for a short break from their daughter’s side while she was treated in the intensive care unit. As soon as they arrived at the driveway of their Greensboro home, an urgent phone call from the hospital directed them back to Moses Cone. Before they could arrive at the hospital, their daughter was dead. The first signs of the difficulties that would claim the life of Jeffus-Thomas began seemingly innocent enough as a nagging cough during February. “They diagnosed it as bronchitis. They treated that, and she seemed to get better,” said Jeffus, who represents a district in Greensboro but served parts of High Point during the 1990s. Her legislative district was redrawn following the 2000 census. Jeffus-Thomas improved enough that she and her husband took their two daughters on a previously scheduled trip to Disney World for nearly a week in February, Jeffus said. “When she came back she was OK for a while. But the next time I saw her, she had another cough. She had been to the doctor, and they diagnosed it as pneumonia. She seemed to be upbeat and energetic. I just felt like it was a matter of time before the medicine took hold,” Jeffus said. But her daughter didn’t improve, and Jeffus-Thomas continued treatment for breathing difficulties. Still, her daughter maintained her positive demeanor as she met with medi-
LEGISLATOR, 2A
YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR NEWSPAPER.
HIGH POINT – Some T.W. Andrews High School students will be going back to Welborn Middle School for classes next month, school district officials said this week. While preparing to replace roofmounted heating and air conditioning equipment this month, workers found problems with the roof, Andy LaRowe, interim chief operations officer, told the Guilford County Board of Education. It could take as long as three months to replace corroded areas of the roof deck over the main building, LaRowe said. School officials are preparing construction bids for roof work. Meanwhile, the office staff moved to another building on campus to allow repairs to start. “We will have to relocate students from the top floor,” LaRowe said. Welborn, which also houses an academy of science and technology, has available classrooms. “We look to move students back during the winter break,” LaRowe said. While the $1.2 million HVAC project is on budget, the school board may have to ask the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to transfer money to pay for the roof repairs, according to school officials. The roof over the school gymnasium and the cafeteria also need repairs, according to district project lists. School officials told county commissioners this spring that they would use $3 million in unspent maintenance money this summer. Heating and air conditioning replacements and upgrades are scheduled at seven schools during the summer. Most of the summer maintenance work does not include 2008 bond projects. Commissioners approved $3.2 million for 2011 maintenance and repairs, $800,000 less than what was provided this year. dnivens@hpe.com | 888-3626
WHO’S NEWS
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Eric Spencer joined High Point University as a clinical counselor in the Office of Student Life. Spencer will be primarily responsible for providing counseling to students at HPU to help them better cope with a variety of concerns.
INSIDE
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THINK PINK: Tour brings awareness for fight vs. cancer. 1E OBITUARIES
---- Orpha Blackmer, 82 Betsy Brown, 74 J. Ralph Boyles, 79 Larry Frye, 68 W. Hammonds, 80 Adeja Johnson, 12 Gerald Kinley, 53 Marilyn Lanning, 86 Rhoda Lawing, 61 Buddy Sullivan, 68 Arne Weber, 76 Joyce Williams, 67 Obituaries, 2-3B
WEATHER
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Thunderstorms High 86, Low 69 8D
INDEX
DON DAVIS | HPE
Crews are working around the clock on the roof at Andrews High School.
NEW SCHOOLS
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Openings: The new Jamestown Middle School will open in August as will the nearby Meredith Leigh Haynes-Bennie Lee Inman Education Center.
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