WEDNESDAY
TAKING FLIGHT: Davidson officials discuss air-med helicopter. 1B
October 27, 2010 127th year No. 300
JOIN THE CLUB: School leaders consider new programs. 1B
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BETTER ATTITUDE: Break helps refresh Demon Deacons. 1D
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SPLIT VIEWPOINTS
WHO’S NEWS
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City mayoral candidates differ on ABC system BY DARRICK IGNASIAK ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – Candidates for High Point’s mayoral race and the two at-large City Council seats differ on their views on
whether the state should privatize the ABC system. Currently, it is a local decision to establish and operate ABC stores. Local governments act through an appointed local ABC board, which balances the con-
trol, profit and stock of spirits in its jurisdiction. State legislators have had discussions about privatizing the ABC system – an issue that candidates expressed split views on during a recent candidate forum.
Dr. M. Todd Knippenberg has been hired as assistant professor of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at High Point University. In his new role, Knippenberg is responsible for teaching various chemistry courses and assisting chemistry majors with computational chemistry research.
Incumbent Mayor Becky Smothers said she supports the current system because law enforcement is a key component of regulating ABC laws. She said
CANDIDATES, 2A
FOGGY MORNING
INSIDE
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VOTING WATCH: Feds ready to handle Election Day complaints. 1B SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
The fog early Tuesday gives an eerie glow to car lights as vehicles travel through the middle of town.
OBITUARIES
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Hopefuls bring issues to campaign
CANDIDATES
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Nancy Routh • Age: 78 • Education: Doctorate in education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro • Experience: Retired in 1993 after 27 years as a teacher and principal; education consultant and trainer; N.C. School Board Legislative Committee • Family: Five daughters, 13 grandchildren Lisa Ingle Clapp • Age: 40 • Occupation: Dental hygienist • Education: Associate’s degree in dental hygiene from Guilford Technical Community College • Experience: Served as president and vice president of the McLeansville Elementary PTA; youth basketball coach; member of the Eastern Guilford High School Athletic Boosters • Family: Married; two children.
BY DAVID NIVENS ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
Tomorrow...
GUILFORD COUNTY – An education professional faces a concerned mother and PTA leader in the Nov. 2 race for an at-large seat on the Guilford County Board of Education. Incumbent Nancy Routh of Pleasant Garden and Lisa Ingle Clapp of McLeansville are energized about their issues. “I still have the knowledge and skill, and I’m just not ready to quit,” said Routh, 78, a board member since 2002. “I still consider myself an educator. When we get into many of these issues, my principal’s brain kicks in.” Routh has served on statelevel committees on student testing and education reform. Her top issues include managing the district’s
A look at District 2 race.
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shrinking budget while protecting teachers. “I try to keep up and informed,” Routh said. Clapp, 40, devotes much of her energy to school safety and discipline issues. She has criticized the district’s handling of school violence for years. “I have been disturbed by what I have seen in the schools and the way students are allowed to behave,” Clapp said. Clapp said teachers have told her that principals are under pressure to keep the number of reported violations low. “Some students get a time out instead,” she said. Routh said she was unfamiliar with the exact inci-
dents Clapp mentions. Violent incidents are reported according to state standards, Routh said, and students are suspended and removed from school for code violations. “There is a mechanism to file a complaint, and students get suspended and they go to the alternative schools,” she said. Students who bring weapons to school or who injure others seriously are suspended for as long as a year by law, Routh said. Others facing minor offenses receive shorter suspensions and can return to class. Clapp suggested principals should intervene sooner to remove students to alternative schools “where they should stay longer.” “Teachers should be trained better to handle these students in the alternative setting. We have to weigh
WEATHER
Routh
Clapp
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the options to make schools safer,” Clapp said. In other areas, the candidates agree they don’t like the state’s testing program and that the district should work to retain good teachers. “Testing is not teaching,” Routh said. “The tests are aimed at promoting competence by global standards, but our students have not been tested as competent by national standards for 20 years.” “Testing takes away from the creativity of teaching,” Clapp said. dnivens@hpe.com | 888-3626
City sets dedication for Liberty Tree Memorial BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – A tribute to the nation’s freedom and founding will put down roots in the city during a dedication planned for Veteran’s Day. The city received a ceremonial disease-resistant American Liberty Elm tree through a grant from the Liberty Tree Society sponsored by Elm Research Institute in Keene, N.H. The tree is part of a memorial being put together at a site near Oak Hollow Lake as an Eagle Scout project by John Parks
Jr. of Boy Scout Troop 3 in Jamestown. “The group in New Hampshire basically gave us the tree and then helped with the Eagle Scout project in exchange for giving them a little publicity and for getting other people to try to join their group,” said Andy Piper, senior planner for the city. “Somebody will be there with information to hand out about their mission and goal.” The memorial includes a plaque with an inscription that recounts the history of Boston’s Liberty Tree, an American elm that was the rallying place for the Sons of
Liberty during the Revolutionary War. The Elm Research Institute has set a goal of establishing 1,000 Liberty Tree Memorials in communities across the country to promote this part of American history and to foster efforts to plant diseaseresistant American Liberty Elms in public spaces nationwide. High Point will be the 438th such memorial it has established. The institute was established in 1967 with the goal of saving the American elm from extinction. The organization sponsored genetic research that produced the American
Coolidge Armstrong, 85 Matthews Broooks, 87 Larhonda Dallas, 23 Josie Dye, 79 Charles Everhart, 66 Robert Motsinger Sr., 85 Cameron Rosa, infant Nicholas Russo Jr., 79 Zack Zachary, 85 Obituaries, 2B
Liberty Elm, a purebred descendant of disease-resistant American elms. It is the only elm with a lifetime warranty against Dutch elm disease. More than 300,000 have been planted since 1984. The dedication ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. at the Festival Park North Overlook, located off Eastchester Drive next to the Oak Hollow Lake Dam. The memorial will be dedicated and there will be a reading of the “Liberty Tree” poem by Thomas Paine. pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531
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