UNITED IN CRISIS: New initiative streamlines help to poor. SUNDAY
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REBUILDING PROJECT: Workers must replace brick walls at GTCC. 2A
No. 332 www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
START SPREADIN’ THE NEWS: Duke captures tournament in New York. 1C
50 Cents Daily $1 Sundays
November 28, 2009 125th year
Shopping for a bargain
WHO’S NEWS
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Dr. John L. Turner joined the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Turner is an assistant professor. Prior to joining Wake Forest Baptist, he was clerkship director for the Department of Family Medicine at Indiana University in Indianapolis.
SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Jeremy Gray, Renee Gray and Trey Gray from Archdale, waiting since 11 p.m. the previous night, stand at the front of a long line at Target.
Early-bird buyers get aggressive start on Christmas deals
INSIDE
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Inside...
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Many thinking of others. 1B Shoppers flood stores in U.S. 6C BY PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
COMMUNITY MOURNS: Former Archdale mayor, city founder dies. 1B
HIGH POINT – Shoppers at stores in and around Oak Hollow Mall couldn’t wait to activate the sound of cash registers ringing on Black Friday. Hundreds of early-bird buyers lined up in the morning darkness Friday outside stores such as Belk and Target to tap into the best deals on the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the biggest shopping day
SHOPPERS, 2A
SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Hollie Marsh and Michael Turner head to checkout with their prize, a 40-inch TV at Target.
Real firs still mean Christmas for many families BY DAVID NIVENS ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – Jeanette Valentine went out Friday to find the perfect Christmas tree for her family. She found her first North Carolina Fraser fir under a tent at the Carico lot on N. Main Street beside the Honda motorcycle dealership. “I never had a real tree like this before when I was growing up,” said Valentine, a High Point grandmother who came to the lot with members of her extended family, including her young grandson Nathaniel. “Wow, this is nice,” Valentine said. Members of the extended Nelson and Carico families have been bringing freshcut firs from the mountains
to High Point for 40 years. “We find that many people are coming back to the field trees,” said Barry Carico, “and younger people are interested too.” Lisa Carico said she expected a good sales year despite the weak economy. This year, customers can register to win a prize. “We’ll probably go back to Sparta on Sunday to get more trees,” said Barry Carico. “I think we sold 20 trees this morning.” Christmas tree growers farm about 35,000 acres of land across North Carolina. “Because we grow these trees, we can control the prices,” said Barry Carico. “Last year, we sold every tree we had in High Point. We’ve had the same prices for 11 years.”
HIGH POINT – An emergency shelter in High Point plans to use a $15,000 grant award from the Lincoln Financial Foundation to enhance the services it provides for women in crisis. West End Ministries will use the funds to cover some of the cost of case manage-
ment and after-care services for Leslie’s House, a program of the ministry. The 21-bed facility aims to help its residents move from homelessness to permanent housing. WEM Executive Director Judy Mendenhall said Leslie’s House averages 18 to 20 clients a night from all over Guilford County, some as young as 18. She said similar programs in
Doris Gammons, 80 Michael Hughes, 61 John Mickey, 89 Dorothy Pardue, 78 Claude Reynolds, 87 Thomas Summers, 63 Lloyd Taylor, 90 Tim Wilhelm, 50 David Younts, 92 Obituaries, 2-3A, 2B
N.C. TREES
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Harvest: North Carolina’s 2009 Christmas tree harvest should top 5 million trees from more than 1,500 growers. The state was second in the nation in cash receipts from Christmas trees in 2008, with sales of $100 million.
DON DAVIS JR. | HPE
William Valentine helps Nathaniel Williams choose an appropriate tree at the Carico’s tree lot on N. Main. The Carico lot also offers a selection of white pines. “Buying a North Carolina tree helps this state,” said Lisa Carico. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said this week during an appearance at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market that the state had one of its best tree crops ever with good selection and quality. “We had good rain and good weather,” said Lisa Carico. “It was not too hot.” Spillman Tree Farm at Sophia is selling only
cut trees this year. “It will be two more years before we have another crop of trees for people to cut,” said Beverly Spillman, “We see many of the same people every year who come to us for a real tree.” To care for cut trees, experts suggest placing them in a sturdy stand with a water basin as soon as possible. Cut trees also offer recycling into mulch or as habitat for wildlife and fish after the holidays.
Types: More than 96 percent of N.C. Christmas trees are Fraser firs, which are grown in the mountains. Farmers in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain grow pines, cedars and other varieties. Prices: About the same as last year, starting at $30 for a 5- to 6-foot cut tree. Choose-and-cut farms: Go to www.ncfarmfresh.com or request a directory by calling the Marketing Division at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at (919) 733-7887.
dnivens@hpe.com | 888-3626
Grant to help women’s emergency shelter BY PAT KIMBROUGH ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
OBITUARIES
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Greensboro typically don’t accept clients until they turn 21. Leslie’s House caters to women without dependents. “We try to work with them with whatever they need,” Mendenhall said. “Sometimes they come to us without any identification – no driver’s license, no birth certificate, so we have to get that for them. We help them get in school
if that’s what they need. We help them get a job if that’s what they want. We do some classes for them, several things like that. So this will really help us cover some of the cost of our case management.” The life skills classes for clients include topics such as budgeting, time management, resume writing and alcohol and drug education.
YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR NEWSPAPER.
Leslie’s House would be one of the ministry’s programs that benefits from a capital campaign now under way aimed at securing additional space for classes at WEM’s English Road campus. The organization is trying to raise $250,000 to match an anonymous challenge gift. pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531
WEATHER
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Plenty of sun High 58, Low 33 8C
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