ENTERTAINMENT: Music makes its way down N.C. mountains • Page 11A
The Sunday Herald SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2009
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SANFORD CITY COUNCIL
Biz tax’s days numbered Council’s second repeal vote Tuesday; tax brought in $500K in 2 years By GORDON ANDERSON anderson@sanfordherald.com
SANFORD — The controversial Sanford business privilege tax appears to be on its way out Tuesday as city leaders prepare for a second and probably final vote for the tax’s repeal.
The council voted 4-3 to repeal the tax at a December meeting, but the move will require a second majority vote because it passed with less than two-thirds’ support the first time it was discussed by the council. The issue was a surprise addition to
the December 15 agenda by new Councilman Sam Gaskins. Opponents of the tax have argued that it has been applied inequitably, that it would cause businesses to pass price
INSIDE A further explanation of the business privilege tax, including whom it affects and its purpose in general, as well as a look back at its likely short life Page 4A
See Tax, Page 4A
NORTH PLANK ROAD YELLOW JACKETS HOPE TO BUILD ON SUCCESS AT TOURNAMENT
Fire destroys ‘modernist’ home
Practice didn’t quite make the Lee County Yellow Jackets perfect, but it did help them snap a nine game losing streak and helped them earn a second place finish in the Chatlee Shootout, which concluded on Wednesday at Lee County Page 1B
NATION
OBAMA CITES APPARENT AL-QAIDA LINK TO CHRISTMAS TERROR PLOT An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner, training and arming the 23year-old Nigerian man accused in the failed bombing, President Barack Obama said Saturday
Photo courtesy of Lee County Emergency Management
A North Sanford firefighter looks on as flames engulf a large home on North Plank Road near the Lee-Chatham border Saturday. Crews from seven departments fought the blaze well into the night Saturday.
Page 9B
Million-dollar home was once featured on architectural Web site CAROLINA
By BILLY LIGGETT bliggett@sanfordherald.com
APEX MAN BUILDS HIS OWN HOME IN FIVE YEARS Some men build tree houses, pounding thumbs with hammers. Other do-it-yourselfers aspire to sheds, decks and backyard chicken coops. For five years, Carl Suffredini slowly built his family’s 4,250-square foot house — framing it, wiring it, installing the plumbing and scavenging much of the lumber from his own yard. Page 1C
STATE MOTHER, SON SAVED FROM MOUNTAIN RIVER AFTER WRECK Hours after an Asheville mother picked up her 1999 Buick Century from the mechanic, crews fished it out of the French Broad River. She said she swerved to avoid an oncoming car, causing her to lose control and send her car into the river with her and her 13-year-old son inside.
LEE COUNTY — A large home described on one Web site as the “finest work” of a Harvard University modernist architect was destroyed by a fire Saturday in northern Lee County near the Chatham County line. Firefighters responded to a 3 p.m. call when the fire began and by the time crews arrived, flames had jumped from a garage/shop to the house itself. By 7 p.m. Saturday, crews were still putting out smaller fires in
the home’s top floor, and officials expected to be fighting the fire while braving below-freezing temperatures well into the night. “The house is a total loss,” said Shane Seagroves, director of Lee County Emergency Management. “So is the shop that was attached to it. When the fire department arrived, the shop was fully involved, and strong winds going west to east just blew the flames straight over to the house.”
See Fire, Page 4A
FATALITY ON HORNER
Victim in Friday wreck was 20-year-old Sanford man By GORDON ANDERSON
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anderson@sanfordherald.com
BUSINESS CITIES, COUNTIES NATIONWIDE SEEK TO RECOUP TAX BREAKS Cash-strapped communities have a message for corporations that promised jobs in return for tax breaks: A deal’s a deal. Page 7B
Vol. 79, No. 3 Serving Lee, Chatham, Harnett and Moore counties in the heart of North Carolina
BILLY LIGGETT/The Sanford Herald
Firefighters braved below-freezing temperatures well into the night Saturday to battle a blaze that destroyed a large home on North Plank Road in Lee County.
ASHLEY GARNER/The Sanford Herald
Responders work the scene of an accident on Horner Boulevard near downtown Sanford Friday.
HAPPENING TODAY n The town of Pittsboro hosts its monthly First Sunday downtown. Retailers will set up shop along Hillsboro Street from noon to 4 p.m.
CALENDAR, PAGE 2A
SANFORD — City police have identified the man killed in a Friday afternoon accident on Horner Boulevard as 20-year-old Waldo Ivan Miranda of Sanford. Police said Miranda was killed around 3 p.m. Friday when he sideswiped a vehicle in the northbound lane
High: 35 Low: 18
of Horner Boulevard near the intersection with Wicker Street and then traveled into Miranda the southbound lane and struck another vehicle head-on.
See Wreck, Page 4A
INDEX
More Weather, Page 12A
OBITUARIES
BILLY LIGGETT
Sanford: Cleo Buffkin, 85; Waldo Miranda, 20 Broadway: Kimberly Hansen, 38 Moncure: Kaleb Brigman, infant Vass: Ella Marion, 68
The Herald’s editor can’t save all the stray dogs, but maybe he can just this one
Page 6A
Abby, Graham, Bridge, Sudoku............................. 6B Business .......................... 9B Classifieds ....................... 9B Sunday Crossword ............ 7C Community calendar .......... 2A Horoscope ........................ 6B Obituaries......................... 5A Opinion ..........................6-7A Scoreboard ....................... 4B