East Davidson take two from Bulldogs.
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Business Columnist Marilyn Taylor continues her series on starting new year right.
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Thursday, January 14, 2010
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Board approves economic incentives
City battling ruptured water lines BY ELIOT DUKE Staff Writer
Sub-freezing temperatures left city workers scrambling to fix ruptured water lines across Thomasville Tuesday. More than a dozen underground water main breaks were reported, including one on Liberty Drive that forced Thomasville City Schools to start on a two-hour delay Wednesday morning. Water streaming down the street froze almost instantly Tuesday night, resulting in a wreck that prompt-
ed school officials to act on the delay. Thomasville Public Services Director Morgan Huffman said a total of 18 water main breaks occurred within the city, with some being rather small while others were substantially larger. Crews have been trying to address the breaks as quickly as possible to avoid any freezing. “When the weather gets cold like it is, the ground shifts,” Huffman said. “That shift breaks the pipes. As of [Tuesday] morning we had 18 in all, and that’s includ-
ing all the tiny small leaks all the way up to a main line. “Most of the places where water has been on the road, we tried to get to them as quickly as we could. At Liberty Drive, we were not able to get to that in that in time because we had other leaks with higher precedent we had to get to. We tried to put a significant amount of sand out in areas where it wouldn’t wash away.” Some of worst leaks were reported at Salem Street, Randolph
See WATER, Page 3
BY KARISSA MINN Staff Writer
COURTESY PHOTO
LEADING THE WAY IN READING Friendship Elementary School recently named its Accelerated Readers for the second quarter. Fourth and fifth grad students named Accelerated Readers were: front, from left, Nejat Alkadir, Grace Whitlock, Holly Murphy, Sophia Brummett, Ella Russell; and back, from left, Bailee Wilson, Celeste Richter, Keegan Nichols, Landon Varner and Ryan Chapman. Find more students named to the Accelerated Readers list in Saturday’s edition of the Times.
Free parenting course offered by resource center
LEXINGTON — The Davidson County Board of Commissioners approved economic incentive grants Tuesday for companies that could bring 162 jobs to the county and invest more than $3.2 million. Steve Googe, executive director of the Davidson County Economic Development Commission, presented proposed incentive packages for Project G and Project Combined. “We’ve been working for the past several months with Project G to assist them with expansion in Davidson County,” Googe said. He said the company would invest approximately $1.2 million and provide at least 12 jobs at about the current county average wage over the first five years of the project. Commissioners unanimously approved an economic development grant of .0027 times the investment in plant machinery and equipment each year for five years. Local citizen Barney Hill spoke in support of the request during the public hearing. “As long as the compa-
ny doesn’t get back more than it paid [in property taxes], I don’t care if it gets all of it back every year from now on, and it gets it back with no strings attached,” Hill said. The EDC has been working for about 20 months to help Project Combined find a site for expansion into Davidson County, Googe said. The company would invest between $2 million and $3 million and would create at least 150 jobs in Davidson County during the first three years of the project, at an average wage above the county average wage. The EDC requested two economic development grants for Project Combined. The first would be .0027 times the total investment in plant machinery and equipment each year for five years. The second would not exceed $6,000 per year, and it would be paid each year for 12 years. “Are these concurrent for the first five years?” asked Commissioner Sam Watford. “Yes, that’s correct,” Googe said. Hill spoke in opposition to this request during the
See BOARD, Page 3
THS athletes take on role as mentors BY ELIOT DUKE Staff Writer
BY KARISSA MINN Staff Writer
A free parenting class starting today aims to teach parents how to deal with misbehaving children without yelling, screaming or spanking. Fairgrove Family Resource Center is sponsoring a five-week course called “1-2-3 Magic” that focuses on effective discipline for children ages 2 through 12. Terri Nelson, executive director of the resource center, said that there is still room for parents to register.
“It’s a humorous look at parenting and a serious look at discipline,” Nelson said. “It’s a highly video-based program, and there are five sessions.” Nelson said that parents can learn how to discipline without arguing, yelling or spanking; how to control obnoxious behavior; how to handle six kinds of testing and manipulation; five tactics for encouraging good behavior; what to do about bedtime, messy rooms, lying, chores, homework
A group of student athletes at Thomasville High School are going the extra mile to ensure a new generation of Bulldogs excellence, both on and off the playing field. As part of a new athletic mentor/mentee program, 23 THS athletes have been pairing up with students from Thomasville Middle School and Liberty Drive Elementary in an effort to get them heading down the right path. THS Health and Physical Education Teacher Sam Captain presented the new year-long program that pairs up athlete and student at Tuesday’s monthly Thomasville
See COURSE, Page 3
See MENTORS, Page 4
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TIMES PHOTO/ELIOT DUKE
From left, are TCS students Lee Ivey, Steven Stanley and Lawson Hodges. Ivey and Hodges are THS athletes participating in the mentoring program.
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