FRIDAY
SHOPPING SPREE: Store helps area teachers prepare for class. 1B
August 20, 2010 127th year No. 232
HPU LANDS LANCE: Famous cyclist to speak at commencement. 1B
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
TITLE TALK: Myers sets his sights on Bowman Gray crown. 5D
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FORECLOSURE
WHO’S NEWS
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Guilford County rate among highest in state BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
The sky’s the limit! Area high school football teams have high hopes as the 2010 season kicks off tonight. Get ready for all the action with today’s Fall Sports Guide, a full-color 48-page section featuring preview stories, photos and schedules of ALL the fall sports at our 15 area high schools.
GUILFORD COUNTY – Guilford County is in the top three counties in North Carolina that have seen the most foreclosures this year. According to court data, 2,542 homes have been foreclosed on in the county. It ranks behind just Mecklenburg County, with 6,726 foreclosures, and Wake County, with 3,246 foreclosures. The state is expected to reach a record number of foreclosures by the end of the year, according to a prediction made by the N.C. Justice Center, if current foreclosure rates persist. Last year, there were 63,289 foreclosures in the state. The state could see 70,000 this year, according to the department. Local real estate agents and lenders say they’ve adjusted to an environment where short-sell homes that they market turn into foreclosures before a buyer comes along. “It’s happened slowly,” said Ed Stafford, branch manager at Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors in High Point. “A lot of folks in short sells will call us to tell us their home has been foreclosed on while we’re
in the process of marketing the home. It’s become a big part of the business.” The increase has put more work on banks too, and extra paperwork can slow activity down in the housing market as well, Stafford said. “Sometimes we can’t get lenders to respond to calls or make a move,” he said. “We assume that’s because they are covered up with this stuff. Who knows how many more (foreclosures) they have in their portfolio that they haven’t released yet?” Last week, it was announced that North Carolina was one of 17 states that would snag an additional $121 million in federal aid to assist homeowners struggling to afford their mortgage payments. But it’s no surprise that Guilford County sits among the counties with the highest foreclosure rates considering numerous layoffs that have occurred in recent years. “I expect when we see new, permanent, full-time jobs, we’ll see some relief (in foreclosures),” Stafford said. “But with so many (foreclosures) in the pipeline, that may not happen for one to two years.”
INSIDE
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phaynes@hpe.com | 888-3617
Congressman mulls lessons from Iraq
TRAFFIC JAM: Accident at Yadkin bridge snarls I-85 traffic. 2A
BY PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
TRIAD – Rep. Howard Coble, R6th, comes to a sobering conclusion as he ponders the end of major combat operations in the Iraq war after more than seven years. Coble voted in the fall of 2002 for the congressional resolution that gave the administration of former Republican President George W. Bush the authority to invade. Now, as Coble surveys how Coble the war and post-invasion morass materialized, the congressman acknowledges that, if he knew then what he knows now, he probably wouldn’t have voted to support the invasion. “I assumed that we had formulated some sort of post-entry strategy. Alas, we had not. If I had known there was no post-entry strategy, I probably wouldn’t have voted to dispatch troops,” the 13term congressman said. Both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly in the fall of 2002 to authorize the invasion, which began early in 2003. Major combat operations in Iraq officially ended early Thursday when American troops streamed across the border into Kuwait. The completion of the massive withdrawal, leaving 50,000 American forces, fulfilled a campaign pledge by Democratic President Barack Obama. Coble raised eyebrows in political circles here and across the nation four years ago when he became one of the first Republican congressman to publicly discuss the possibility of withdrawing troops from Iraq. Coble continues to maintain that U.S. forces did the world a favor by overthrowing former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was executed by Iraqis in the aftermath of the in-
Lisa Williams was hired as an administrative assistant in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at High Point University. Williams will provide clerical and administrative support and assistance to the staff of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.
OBITUARIES
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Everett Blakeley, 68 Sandra Harrington, 51 Richard Hedgecock Sr., 75 Athel Ijames, 97 Lillian Jones, 82 Dilcie Leake, 94 Bobby Parker, 68 Andrew Smith, 25 Robert Tysinger Sr., 80 Obituaries, 2B
WEATHER
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AP
The last combat brigade of U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicles cross from Iraq into Kuwait Wednesday. vasion. But Coble said he was devastated in the months after the invasion when he concluded that the Bush administration didn’t have a cohesive post-invasion plan. The other congressmen serving High Point, Rep. Mel Watt, D12th, voted against the resolution eight years ago. Watt was on a trip Thursday and couldn’t be reached for comment. But in the past, the nine-term congressman has indicated he voted against authorizing the war because he was concerned an invasion of Iraq would be ill-conceived and cause more problems in the region than it would resolve. Coble said if Iraq becomes a func-
THE VOTE
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Both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly in October 2002 to authorize the invasion of Iraq, which happened in early 2003. The Senate vote was 77-23, while the House vote was 296-133. Rep. Howard Coble, R-6th, voted in favor of the resolution while Rep. Mel Watt, D-12th, voted against it. Republican Sen. Richard Burr was a representative in 2002 and voted for the resolution. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan wasn’t in Congress eight years ago. tioning democracy under the rule of law in the coming years, the war may come to be viewed as successful. If Iraq descends into chaos or dictatorship, the epitaph of the war will be devastatingly different.
“I hope it was worth it,” Coble said. “I don’t know now, and we may not know that for certainty for some time to come.” pjohnson@hpe.com | 888-3528
Thomasville seeks park upgrade sponsors BY DARRICK IGNASIAK ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Thomasville Parks and Recreation Director Billy Freeman stands in front of older playground equipment at Veterans Memorial Park.
Sunny, warm High 89, Low 69
THOMASVILLE – Thomasville officials are searching for sponsors to help fund upgrades to several parks in the city. The Thomasville City Council this week endorsed the Partners for Playgrounds project, which is being organized by the city’s
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parks and recreation committee. The committee requested the City Council support the partnership to pursue the goal of $350,000, with the city’s portion of $50,000 toward the project. Billy Freeman, the city’s parks and recreation director, said the request was made to the council
PARKS, 2A
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