DINING OUT: United Way program is food for thought. 1B
October 7, 2009 125th year No. 280
AWARD WINNER: EDC earns recognition for annual report. 2A
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
RUN TIME: Wake Forest seeks spark for ground game. 1D
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Clunker hangover Sales of new cars decline, but local dealers say program worked BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – Local dealerships saw the government incentive Cash for Clunkers program serve as the engine to their success this summer. But now that the program has been shut off, can car sales survive without it? National automobile sales tumbled 41 percent from August to September, the month the program officially ended. Automakers that suffered a drop in sales included GM and Chrysler, while Hyundai’s sales increased 27 percent. The difference between the clunker months can be alarming, but dealers in High Point still say the program was well worth it. “When the clunker deal was going on, those people who weren’t necessarily looking for a car decided to go out and look for a car,” said Scott McNeill, general manager of Carolina Kia and Carolina Hyundai. “Car sales have been down a little since, and that’s the main difference in the traffic that we’re seeing now.” Buyers all but neglected the used-car inventory at Ilderton, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Inc. when the pro-
WEDNESDAY
WHO’S NEWS
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Registered Nurse Kathy Long of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center was awarded the 2009 Excellence in Gerontological Nursing Award for providing outstanding care to older adults. The annual award is presented by the National Gerontological Nursing Association.
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Keith Chrisholm, salesperson at Carolina Hyundai on N. Main Street, shows off the only car in the showroom. gram, which offered $3,500 or $4,500 rebates to buyers trading in a gas-guzzling vehicle toward the purchase of a new vehicle, was in progress. Since it ended, used car sales have risen. “Our used car market has come back, and it was suffering at that time (of Cash for Clunkers),” said Bobby Myers, sales man-
ager for the dealership. “The demand for new cars has decreased again.” The program has sustained criticism for its ability to permanently impact car sales in the U.S. since car sales have fallen again. McNeill and Myers agree the program couldn’t completely turn the industry around, but it served some good.
“It’s just a matter of the economy shifting back to where it was two years ago,” said McNeill about the auto industry’s recovery. “The program was very successful in the fact that we sold a lot of cars, and automakers created a lot of jobs for factory workers across the country.” Myers said it depleted
the dealership’s new-car inventory. “We haven’t had many new cars left in the last 60 days,” he said. “I think (the program) pulled the industry up to where it needed to be, and that’s the key thing.” The Associated Press contributed to this story.
NEW FACILITY: Davidson company to hold ribbon cutting. 1B OBITUARIES
---- Debra Atkins James Doster, 79 James Hall Jr., 74 Ronald Jester, 91 Ted Johnson, 58 Lura Landreth, 86 Gladys McQueen, 76 Mildred Neighbors, 82 Faye Richards, 85 Clay Scott, 19 Albert Taylor, 79 Connie Willard, 52 Obituaries, 2-3B
phaynes@hpe.com | 888-3617
Ruling backs judge in overturning murder verdict BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – The North Carolina Court of Appeals has affirmed a judge’s ruling that dismissed charges against a High Point woman found guilty in the death of a 3-year-old child she was baby-sitting. In a unanimous opinion issued Tuesday, the court found that Guilford County Superior Court Judge John SPECIAL | HPE O. Craig III was correct in Hailey Rae Resch, 3, died setting aside verdicts of while in the care of her first-degree murder and felonious child abuse that a babysitter.
jury returned against Mary Elizabeth Roach after she was tried in High Point in November Roach 2007. Appeals Court Judge Ann Marie Calabria ruled that the state’s evidence was insufficient to establish that Roach was responsible for inflicting the injuries that led to Hailey Rae Resch’s death on Nov. 9, 2005. Judges Robert C. Hunter and Robert N. Hunter Jr.
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Decision may not bring an end to case. 1B concurred. In a case that was primarily circumstantial, the state contended that Hailey suffered injuries – such as bruising on her head and hemorrhages on her brain and in her eyes – after Roach attacked her in a fit of anger over the child’s misbehavior, slamming her head on a hard surface. The state’s
evidence “makes it impossible to determine the timing of the fatal injury,” Calabria wrote. “The State cannot circumstantially establish that the injuries were intentionally inflicted by (Roach) just because the child happened to be under the exclusive care of (Roach) when death occurred. The State must prove that the injuries causing death were sustained while the victim was in the exclusive care
RULING, 2A
Thomasville school officials to revise safety policies BY DARRICK IGNASIAK ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
THOMASVILLE – Revisions to two policies dealing with the safety of Chair City students were tabled Tuesday night by the Thomasville Board of Education. At the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday night, James Carmichael, Thomasville City Schools associate superintendent, requested the school board table a revision to the system’s restraint policy, as well as changes to the
harassment and bullying policy. The revisions will be considered once again next month. The revisions are needed because of legislation that has been passed by the N.C. General Assembly, Carmichael said. The revision to the restraint policy adds a paragraph that states “the board prohibits the use of seclusion or restraint by school personnel except as implemented consistent with G.S. 115C-391,” which says that school personnel can use seclusion and
physical restraint for situations such as responding to a person in control of a weapon and maintaining order and preventing or breaking up a fight. “We do train our staff yearly in proper uses of restraint,” said Karen Sylvester, the system’s exceptional children’s director. “... The law talks about mechanical restraints, which we are not suppose to use at all, either. It’s to protect the safety of our students and safety of our staff.” Carmichael said the revision of the harassment and
bullying policy was based on “adding groups” to the legislation. He said the revision states that “discrimination means any act or failure to act that unreasonably and unfavorably differentiates treatment of others based solely on their membership in a socially district group or category, such as race, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, religion, age or disability.” “This particular policy is a recommendation from the State School Board Association,” Carmichael said. “It’s what they are
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recommending for all school boards.” In other business, the school board approved its 2009-10 budget resolution. Thomasville City Schools Finance Director Tammy Stromko said the school system lost $540,000 from its budget. “It’s $540,000 out of about $13 million,” she said. “It can be a big punch, but the state has given us more flexibility in how we can use the funds. That has helped us with how we can manage.” dignasiak@hpe.com | 888-3657
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