MONDAY
CARDIAC CREW: Hospital earns award for heart-attack care. 1C
City seeks 2nd grant to remove lead paint
October 11, 2010 127th year No. 284
MORE FUNDS: Agency announces arts and tourism grant recipients. 1B
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
BEAR MARKET: Chicago’s stock rises with rout of Panthers. 1D
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WHO’S NEWS
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Wake Forest University School of Law Dean Blake D. Morant was selected for the Equal Justice Works’ John R. Kramer Outstanding Law School Dean Award. The award honors a law school dean who has demonstrated leadership in building an institution that nurtures and fortifies a spirit of public service.
BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – City officials say they’ve made strides protecting young children in low-cost housing from lead paint, and they plan to continue their work. Following a recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is making $110 million in grants available to help eliminate dangerous lead-based paint from aging homes, the city elected to seek a piece of that pie. The Community Development & Housing Department will apply for $3.1 million in grant funds to use repairing window and door frames, porch rails and other parts of homes built before 1978 with lead paint dust or chips, which can cause health problems for children under age 6. If successful, it will be the second Healthy Homes & Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant the city has received in the past two years. “We’re about half way through the current grant,” said Community Development & Housing Director Mike McNair. “We have a two-pronged effort. One is to get children tested and the other is to remove lead hazards. We get called in to address the environmental issues. The (Guilford County) Health Department deals with the children.” To date, about 130 housing units with lead paint problems have been stabilized. The second grant, with a project duration of three years beginning April 1, 2011, would involve more units. “I think it’s important to point out (city officials) are talking about cleaning up 230 units. That’s a significant number,” Mayor Becky Smothers said. High Point has around 23,000 dwelling units built before 1978, when lead-based paint was outlawed. “That doesn’t mean there are 23,000 that need remediation. It’s the ones that aren’t kept up,” said McNair. The current grant also has been used to establish the Lead Safe High Point initiative, which seeks to raise awareness about the issue and offers free screenings for lead poisoning for children. For more information, go to www.highpoint.net/cd/leadsafe. pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531
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SPECIAL | HPE
The $115 million, 400,000-square-foot jail annex project is the largest ever for Guilford County.
Jail project will bring $23 million to county BY DAVID NIVENS ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
GUILFORD COUNTY – With more than a year to go until completion, the $115 million county jail annex project in downtown Greensboro has
There were as many as 900 inmates in the county jails in Greensboro and High Point last week, said Sheriff BJ Barnes, and as many as 300 slept on the floors. pumped nearly $10 million into the economy. The eight-story complex will dominate much of a city block behind the current jail on Sycamore Street. Construction includes an underground tunnel linking the new building to the old jail and nearby courthouse.
The project, which will bring at least $23 million to Guilford County, is on schedule and on budget for a June 2012 completion. Jimmy Anderson of Charlotte-based Balfour Beatty, the county’s construction management firm, said his company has attempted to spur interest in the construction trades and local jobs by offering open houses at schools and at other sites. “Not many people today want to be in the construction trades,” Anderson told the county jail committee last week. Despite a very hot summer, recent rains and several minor worker injuries, the project has lost no time, Anderson said. “It was 130 degrees on the top deck during the hottest days,” Anderson said. “But it has gone, so far, about as smoothly as it could go.” The new jail will have 1,032 inmate beds, including an infirmary. As many as 90 beds will be built for mental health and substance abuse patients. The eight-story structure stands 123 feet tall. Plans also call for Balfour Beatty and partner D.H. Griffin of Greens-
ANNEX IMPACT
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Contractors: More than 50 subcontractors could eventually provide workers. There are as many as seven Guilford County firms among “first tier” contractors. So far, 1,374 workers have labored at the site. Daily crews total about 300. Schedules: The new annex is scheduled for completion by June 2012 and the renovated old jail, which will be used for federal prisoners, is scheduled for reopening in 2013.
boro to renovate the existing downtown Greensboro jail. Voters passed a $115 million bond referendum in 2008 to build the annex to ease overcrowding. There were as many as 900 inmates in the county jails in Greensboro and High Point last week, said Sheriff BJ Barnes, and as many as 300 slept on the floors. dnivens@hpe.com | 888-3626
Mayoral candidates support arts, but have differences Before you read...
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Second in a five-part series.
BY VICKI KNOPFLER ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – Mayoral candidates Jay W. Wagner and incumbent Rebecca Smothers consider themselves supporters of the arts, with Smothers ranking herself eight and Wagner ranking himself seven, on a scale with 10 as highest.
FORUM: Candidates set to answer questions Thursday. 1B
T h e y agree a strong arts scene is vital to any communiWHERE ty and that DO THEY the city STAND? should continue Local political current candidates financial and the arts support ■■■ for arts groups, at least in the near term. “If it’s a question of their survival, it’s something we have to do,” Wagner said.
“ ... I think there’s a certain amount of responsibility to ensure the good things we have don’t completely disappear in bad economic times,” Smothers said. The two differ philosophically on city funding of nonprofit arts groups. Even though Wagner, an attorney, says funding in High Point is necessary now, he is opposed to direct funding to artists because it limits artistic freedom. Rather, he would work to improve the economy.
“Taxpayers feel they have a stake in what a person produces and that they have a right to complain,” he said. “I also feel if you live in a city with a strong economy, you’ll get the support for the arts your city deserves. It’s a symptom of an ailing economy in High Point that we don’t have better support for the arts. I wish we had a strong enough economy that the city didn’t have to support the arts.” If High Point had more money, Smothers would favor increasing direct fi-
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nancial support. “I don’t think it’s inappropriate for the city to fund the arts,” she said. “ ... We could be a partner. I don’t think we have to fund everything. People have to have ownership.” Both candidates want an arts center for High Point, but they differ on the degree to which the city should be involved in creating one. Wagner listed degree of involvement at five, and Smothers listed a 10, with 10 the
CANDIDATES, 2A
OBITUARIES
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Robert Coward, 89 Fred Easter Jr., 92 Jesse Edmonds, 74 Claude Fowler, 90 Pearlie Harvell, 85 Charles Rohrer, 71 Paul Randazzo, 57 Paul Tysinger, 85 Obituaries, 2-3B
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Plenty of sun High 86, Low 54 6D
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