THURSDAY
READY TO LEAD: Veteran principal takes over at East Davidson. 1B
Davidson OKs school design
August 19, 2010 127th year No. 231
ON AN EVEN KEEL: Tourism sales continue to stabilize. 1B
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CHASING A GOAL: Bowyer targets NASCAR playoffs. 1D
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GOODBYE IRAQ
WHO’S NEWS
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Etta Gravely, an associate professor in the chemistry department at North Carolina A&T State University, was invited to serve on the newly established American Chemical Society-Hach Programs Advisory Board. Gravely was selected based on her expertise and involvement in chemistry and chemical education.
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Officials explore funding options. 1B BY DARRICK IGNASIAK ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
DAVIDSON COUNTY – The Davidson County Board of Education on Wednesday approved a preliminary design of a new middle school that the system hopes to build in the northern part of the county. The school is proposed to be located on Midway School Road near the Hoy Long Road intersection. Commissioners agreed to buy 133 acres in April at a price of $2.35 million for a new middle and high school. Clark Pierce, vice president of Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce Architects, and Jay Temple, the system’s executive director of auxiliary services, gave a presentation on the design and floor plans before the school board approved the item. “Hopefully, we are at a point where we can get this project under way and move dirt and put some bricks and mortar up,” Temple said. Pierce said the school is designed to have 137,756 square feet, with a capacity of 864 students. The approved plan allows for the system to have an “easy” expansion on the school’s wings, Temple said. “If you want to expand to 1,000, you wouldn’t necessarily need to add on to each classroom,” Pierce said. “You would add on to two wings and easily achieve 1,000.” Fred Mock, superintendent of Davidson County Schools, said a new middle school in the northern part of the county would alleviate overcrowding at North Middle and Ledford Middle. He said each of those schools are 300 to 350 students above capacity. “This is a safety issue,” Mock said. “This is a community issue. It is of concern for us to stay ahead of growth in these two communities.” School officials hope to have the construction of the school out for bid in October. “The big caveat is commissioners giving us approval to get to the design stage, but not to the bid stage,” board member Kenny Meredith said. “That’s going to be a hoop we are going to have to jump through. They have got to find a way to pay for this thing.” School officials said it is too early to speculate how much the school would cost until bids come in on the project. dignasiak@hpe.com | 888-3657
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U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jackie Vanover from Spanaway, Wash., holds a handmade message for his family.
Last US combat brigade heads home KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait (AP) – As their convoy reached the barbed wire at the border crossing out of Iraq on Wednesday, the soldiers whooped and cheered. Then they scrambled out of their stifling hot armored vehicles, unfurled an American flag and posed for group photos. For these troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief. Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion,
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Insurgents kill five Iraqi government workers. 4A the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, well ahead of President Barack Obama’s Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there. Some 50,000 U.S. trooops will stay another year in what is designated as a noncombat role. They will carry weapons
to defend themselves and accompany Iraqi troops on missions (but only if asked). Special forces will continue to help Iraqis hunt for terrorists. The U.S. death toll – at least 4,415 by Pentagon count as of Wednesday – may not yet be final. The Stryker brigade, named for the vehicle that delivers troops into and out of battle, has lost 34 troops in Iraq. It was at the forefront of many of the fiercest battles, including opera-
tions in eastern Baghdad and Diyala province, an epicenter of the insurgency, during “the surge” of 2007. It evacuated troops at the battle of Tarmiyah, an outpost where 28 out of 34 soldiers were wounded holding off insurgents. Before the Aug. 31 deadline, about half the brigade’s 4,000 soldiers flew out like most of the others leaving Iraq, but its leadership volunteered to have the remainder depart over land.
Time Warner, ESPN contract fight lingers BY PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
TRIAD – A looming deadline between the sports broadcasting giant ESPN and the cable conglomerate Time Warner couldn’t come at a more nerve-racking time for football fans. The current contract between ESPN and Time Warner will expire Sept. 2, just as the fall football season gears up locally and across the nation. If no new contract is in place, ESPN channels could drop off Time Warner’s lineup as football games begin. Sept. 2 is the kickoff night for a slate of college football games on ESPN, including Wake Forest University hosting Presbyterian College. The first weekend of September rolls out the college football season in earnest. The contract between ESPN and Time Warner would expire a week and a half before the first full weekend of this year’s National Football League season. ESPN has the rights to carry Monday night NFL games. Negotiations between cable companies and networks usually center around how much money a cable
company is willing to pay a network to carry its programming. Time Warner has neared deadlines to negotiate new contracts with networks in the past. Rarely does the deadline pass and disrupt service to customers. Still, the possibility of a cutoff of ESPN service on Time Warner has drawn the attention of TV viewers and other television service providers. Competitors of Time Warner are marketing their services in the Triad this month, trying to take advantage of the unfulfilled negotiations between the cable company and ESPN and convince customers to switch TV service providers before Sept. 2. Time Warner issued a statement saying that negotiations with ESPN are well under way. “Just like other distributors, Time Warner Cable negotiates with television networks all the time for the rights to air their programming. We successfully negotiate dozens of programming agreements every year with no service interruptions for our customers,” the cable company indicates. ESPN said in a statement that the
SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Vehicle is parked in yard on Phillips Avenue.
HIGH POINT – It’s been nine months since a zoning ordinance amendment went into effect in High Point that bans cars from being parked in front yards or non-designated driveways. Katherine Bossi, local codes enforcement supervisor for the city, will tell you that an amendment like that can be hard to enforce.
Marie Harris, 75 Barton Johnson Lillian Jones, 82 Christopher Karch, 23 Jerry Kennedy, 69 Steven Morris, 62 Obituaries, 2B
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DON DAVIS JR. | HPE
Patrons of Butlers bar on S. Main Street watch baseball on ESPN. network is working diligently to reach an agreement. “The two companies have been negotiating for many months to reach agreement before that deadline. We understand your concern, and we are working with Time Warner Cable to reach agreement before Sept. 2,” according to the ESPN statement. pjohnson@hpe.com | 888-3528
“It’s taken manpower because cars are mobile,” she said. “You’ve got a vehicle that comes and goes, and sometimes we aren’t there to see it in violation like late at night or during the weekend.” At a recent Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, commission members asked the planning department how effective the ordinance had been. It was a controversial issue when it went for approval
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OBITUARIES
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Parking ordinance takes time BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
GOING ONLINE: Stimulus funds to help with broadband access in Triad. 2A
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