TUESDAY
EVERYBODY’S DAY: Annual festival set this weekend. 1B
September 21, 2010 127th year No. 264
HELPING HAND: City donates money to charities. 3A
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
ANSWER THE CALL: Benny Phillips joins Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame. 1D
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City OKs rezoning for mosque field Road from a residential multi-family classification to conditional use public and institutional with an accompanying conditional-use permit. Hanif and the Islamic Society of High Point plan to build an Islamic worship center and educational facility. Organizers said the city’s two existing mosques on W. Lexington Avenue and W. Market Center Drive don’t provide adequate space.
BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a pair of rezoning requests that clears the way for a mosque to be built in south High Point. The council granted requests from Malik Hanif to rezone 6.9 acres on the east side of Allen Jay Road just north of E. Fair-
“In the last three or four years, we have seen tremendous growth in the population of the Muslim community. We are seeing so many immigrants and newcomers, and they are settling on the south side,” said Uzma Zaman, spokeswoman for the Islamic Center of High Point. “As new families are coming, they’re growing, they’re having kids, and we’re seeing a new generation of kids.”
Most of the discussion about the case centered around the impact of traffic generated by the mosque. City staff said Allen Jay Road currently gets about 10 percent of its vehicles-per-day capacity, and even combined with traffic from a nearby school, congestion shouldn’t be an issue. “I’m concerned about noise and congestion, with us living right
MOSQUE, 2A
Political climate changing
Suryadipta Roy, assistant professor of economics at High Point University, recently had one of his research papers accepted in the “Economics and Politics” journal. The paper is titled “Political Asymmetry and Common External Tariffs in a Customs Union.”
INSIDE
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Economy, unemployment help fuel unrest in electorate Inside...
WHO’S NEWS
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SPECIAL VISITOR: Former Bush adviser speaks at HPU.
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Unemployment fuels shift. 1B
PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
TRIAD – Talk about whiplash politics. This time two years ago, Democrats were giddy about their prospects to retake the White House, make gains in Congress and boost their numbers in state and local offices. The dissatisfaction over former Republican President George W. Bush and frustration over the financial industry collapse pushed voters to support Democratic candidates in the 2008 general election. Today, with unemployment hovering closer to 10 percent nationally and locally, the political wave has reversed. Entering the stretch run of this year’s midterm elections, Republicans are energized about their chances to make major gains at the polls Nov. 2 because of frustration with the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democraticcontrolled Congress and a Democratic-led N.C. General Assembly. “The economy is the foremost issue that drives voters to and from parties,” said Hunter Bacot, director of the Elon University Poll. The economy also appears to be influencing the level of interest among voters based on their political orientations, Bacot said. In October 2008, the Elon University Poll found that 80 percent of North Carolina Democrats were very or extremely interested in voting. By April of this year, the interest of state Democrats plummeted to 26 percent.
OBITUARIES
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Sonny Covington, 54 Connie Darr, 94 Edward Daviss Jr Terry Pickett, 71 Ricky Powell, 54 Tillie Richbourg, 81 Obituaries, 2B
WEATHER
---SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Local candidates’ campaign signs are seen along Eastchester Drive. Interest of North Carolina Republicans has fallen as well, but not as much – from 74 percent in October 2008 to 42 percent in April. The Elon University Poll will release updated figures this week leading into the general election. The hope and change themes of Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 set high expectations for his presidency, and so far the results haven’t measured up to the expectations, said Matthew DeSantis, professor of political science at Guilford Technical Community College. “People were so excited about Obama’s presidency, and then everything slowed down when he got to Washington, D.C.,” DeSantis said. “Obama came in with so much hype and promise, and then has taken a long time to deliver on certain things.”
Another factor affecting the direction of politics this year is voters seeking a balance of power between Democrats and Republicans, Bacot said. “When one party controls too much, the public likes to make sure that control doesn’t extend for too long,” Bacot said. The party in power in the White House typically loses seats in Congress during midterm elections between presidential elections. In the past half-century, there only have been two times when the party controlling the White House gained seats, Democrats in 1998 and Republicans in 2002, DeSantis said. “What may be unusual this time is the amount of seats Democrats might lose,” DeSantis said. pjohnson@hpe.com | 888-3528
AT A GLANCE
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Early voting for the primary concludes today at several locations in the area: • Guilford County – Roy Culler Jr. Senior Center, 600 N. Hamilton St., High Point, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. • Davidson County – Thomasville Public Library, 14 Randolph St., 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; Midway Fire Department, 228 Midway School Road, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. • Randolph County – Archdale Public Library, 10433 S. Main St., 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Thomasville OKs arming animal control officer BY DARRICK IGNASIAK ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
THOMASVILLE – The Thomasville City Council on Monday night voted unanimously to equip the Thomasville Police Department’s animal control officer with a weapon. The request to arm the officer with a gun was made by Thomasville police Chief Jeff Insley. He said he made the request to the City Council because he wants to provide better service for the residents of Thomasville. “I’m just looking for quality service and being able to protect our folk,” Insley said.
Arming the officer with the gun will decrease the likelihood of a resident being injured by a vicious animal, City Manager Kelly Craver said last week. Currently, the Thomasville Police Department has one animal control officer who carries only Mace. The animal control officer doesn’t carry a tranquilizer because there’s a different certification and another “set of hoops to jump through” to get the tranquilizer for the officer, Craver said. Insley said the police department will look into getting certification for the officer to carry a tranquilizer.
“I’m not one for just killing every animal that comes around,” Insley said. “There are some times where the presence of a stranger causes the animal to act a little crazy. If you are able to at least put them down and get them asleep, then maybe the owner can come claim the animal and then be held accountable for making sure they control the animal like they are supposed to be.” To carry the gun, the animal control officer will be required to go through the same weapon training that sworn officers have to go through. The animal control officer will not be allowed to carry a weap-
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on off duty or on a school campus. When the use of force is needed, equipping the animal control officer with a gun will expedite the process rather than having to call for a back-up police officer, Craver said. “It’s a terrible feeling to be there and not be in a position where you can do something,” Insley said. “Hopefully, if need be when the time comes, we can be able to handle it.” Insley hopes to have animal control officer equipped with the gun in two weeks. dignasiak@hpe.com | 888-3657
Sunny, warm High 88, Low 63 6D
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