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THOMASVILLE
East Davidson sweeps Wheatmore in court action.
Times
Thursday, December 10, 2009
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County audit report positive BY KARISSA MINN Staff Writer
LEXINGTON — The Davidson County Board of Commissioners received a positive audit report from Martin Starnes and Associates at its Tuesday meeting. J.P. Jones, staff accountant with Martin Starnes and Associates, said that the county recieved an unqualified opinion for the 2008-09 fiscal year, with no findings or questioned costs.
“The state of the county’s finances is very stable,” said County Manager Robert Hyatt. “We work very hard to be frugal with the money that comes in through revenues and how we spend the money, and I think that’s reflected in the audit report. I think the audit verifies that our folks do a very good job accounting for the money, also.” The top three expenditures for the general fund were education, human services and
public safety. Spending on education rose, while spending on human services fell. Commissioner Max Walser noted that sales tax revenue had decreased by about $5 million, but Jones said that those revenues are down across the state. Intergovernmental and property tax revenues both increased slightly, and the county’s fund balance continued to rise. “Just a cursory look at this tells me that we’re in pretty good financial shape in this
county,” Walser said. In other news, commissioners approved modifications to current incentive grant contracts with Unilin, Arneg and Imaflex. Steve Googe, director of the Davidson County Economic Development Commission, said that the changes would bring the contracts in line with the county’s new incentive guidelines. “We would recommend in-
See REPORT, Page 6
City Schools engage in ‘Race to the Top’ BY ELIOT DUKE Staff Writer
Thomasville City Schools is joining a statewide effort to get its hands on more stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. TCS Superintendent Keith Tobin will speak to school board members this afternoon at their monthly meeting about “Race to the Top,” a competitive grant program through which states compete for discretionary funds from the federal government for reforming education. More than $4 billion is available through the “Race to the Top” program with North Carolina eligible to receive around $400 million of the new stimulus money. If North Carolina is one of the lucky states to receive the grant Tobin said
See RACE, Page 14
COURTESY PHOTO
Children from the After School program at Central Recreation Center display some of the food items they donated to the Thomasville Times/Parks and Recreation Food Challenge.
Food Challenge donations continue TIMES STAFF REPORT Efforts to collect 10,000 nonperishable food items for the Times and Parks and Recreation Food Challenge continue as participating organizations and businesses begin to drop off their donations.
Business and organizations registered so far this year include: The After School kids at Central Recreation Center (pictured above), Thomasville/Archdale-Trinity Pediatrics, Thomasville Retired School Personnel, Central Wesleyan Church, City of Thomasville, Park Place Bap-
tist Church, Friendship Class, Britthaven of Davidson, Rex Oil Company, Low-Sodium Connections, Thomasville City Schools Staff and The High Point Enterprise. For more information on the food drive, or to register, call 8883590.
DCS looks to adopt new policies BY KARISSA MINN Staff Writer
The Davidson County Schools Board of Education introduced a policy change on Monday that would allow more graduates to be honored for their academic achievements. Beginning with the class of 2011, honor graduates would be recognized as Summa Cum Laude, with a weighted GPA of 4.5 or greater; Magna Cum Laude, with a GPA of 4.1 to 4.499; and Cum Laude, with a GPA of 3.8 to 4.009. The changes are part of a revision to Policy 6.5.1, “High School Graduation Requirements.” “This policy adopts a process that’s similar to what colleges use,” said Dr. Fred Mock, superintendent of Davidson County Schools. “We think it aligns better with the 21st century initiatives, and it also allows us to recognize more students for academic success.” Each high school would continue to honor a valedictorian and salutatorian with the highest and second highest cumulative weighted GPA. The board will vote on the policy in January. The board also is considering a revision to Policy 1.5, “Request to Address the Board,” which includes a line prohibiting personal complaints about specific school personnel during the public forum. It also allows groups of petitioners to appear before the board only if a written request is made in advance. Such a request would include the name and address of the spokesperson for the
See DCS, Page 12
Wallburg sees vision of town hall BY ELIOT DUKE Staff Writer
WALLBURG — The vision of a new town hall took another step towards fruition for Wallburg’s Town Council. At Tuesday’s monthly council meeting, architect Steve Fuller form Fuller Architecture presented a visual representation and slide show of what the new town hall will look like once construction is completed some time next year or early 2011. The new structure combines a modern day design with a touch of the past, giving the council what
they desired from the start — a new place to call home that represents Wallburg and its historical traditions of a small town community. “If I was designing the new town hall myself, this is what it would look like,” Council Member Gary Craver said. “They have done an outstanding job so far and are really making this new town hall into something all of Wallburg can be proud of. This is as good as I’ve been around.” After months of drafting preliminary designs and submitting new ideas to the council, Fuller brought forth a pro-
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posal that garnered a green light. Following his presentation, Fuller requested the council vote on the new schematic design, allowing him to move forward with bidding out construction contracts, which he plans on doing this month. “What we don’t want to do is change major components of the building as we’re developing,” said Fuller. “What we’re going to do is jump in getting our mechanical, plumbing, electrical, constructural and civil engineers going very
See WALLBURG, Page14
TIMES PHOTO/ELIOT DUKE
Architect Steve Fuller of Fuller Architecture shows a rendering Tuesday of what Wallburg’s new town hall will look like.
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