February 18, 2010

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LOCAL: Carthage nursing home shooter to remain in Raleigh • Page 3A

The Sanford Herald Februar y 18, 2010

SANFORDHERALD.COM • 50 CENTS

QUICKREAD

ELECTION 2010

SPORTS

Johnson won’t seek sheriff Potential candidate says general opinion is that Tracy Carter is doing a good job, citizens are satisfied By GORDON ANDERSON anderson@sanfordherald.com

CAVALIERS HOPING TO ‘FOURPEAT’ AS CHAMPS Southern Lee will begin its quest for a fourth consecutive conference tournament crown tonight when the team battles Douglas Byrd at 7:30 tonight Page 1B

SANFORD — Butch Johnson, a retired magistrate and Sanford police officer who announced in November that he had plans to challenge Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter in the 2010 election, reversed course Wednesday and ruled out a run for the seat. “As I traveled around the

county talking with people it appeared to me that the general opinion was that Sheriff Carter was doJohnson ing a good job and that the citizens were satisfied with his work to date. I did have a large number of people indicate

their support for me in this endeavor, but I have decided not to seek this office,” Johnson said in a letter to The Herald Wednesday. Johnson, whose November announcement stressed his focus on getting the sheriff’s office to work with the Sanford Police Department, indicated

See Sheriff, Page 6A

Excerpt from Johnson’s press release ... “ ... We are approaching the last year of Sheriff Carter’s first term and this the not the time for partisan politics to take center stage that may create dissension in the community but rather a time we come together and support the sheriff that the people have chosen to serve at this level. ...” Read the full statement at sanfordherald.com

STATE DONATE LIFE

OBITUARY

Sanford real estate agent dies in car crash

MAN INNOCENT AFTER 16 YEARS IN PRISON

A North Carolina man who insisted he was innocent of murder through more than 16 years in prison was declared a free man Wednesday after a groundbreaking exoneration pressed by the nation’s only statewide innocence panel

Shane Owens, 41, sold houses here and in Myrtle Beach area By CAITLIN MULLEN

Page 7A

cmullen@sanfordherald.com

Causes TerraTrike Tour April 1 in memory of their daughter Alex, who died almost 10 years ago and donated her organs. Over the course of six months, Ballentine and Burris plan to ride 40-50 miles each day, stopping in Richmond, Va.; Denver; Florence, Ore.; San Francisco; Yosemite National Park in California; and then head back to Denver.

SANFORD — A Sanford man killed in a car accident Tuesday night will be remembered for his positive personality and “million-dollar smile.” Shane Owens, 41, was headed eastbound on N.C. 904 in Robeson County around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when his car ran off the left side of the road, hitting a bridge and traveling back onto the highway, according to published reports. The car was then hit by a truck driven by Owens Casey Devone Spivey, 30, of Loris, S.C. Spivey was not injured. Both vehicles were traveling the 55 mph speed limit. Owens was not wearing a seatbelt. Owens was a real estate agent in both North Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Sanford, and split his time between the two cities. He was the son of Brenda Tucker, owner of Brenda’s Jewelers. Dale Sauls, pastor at San-

See Journey, Page 6A

See Owens, Page 5A

ECONOMY

ASHLEY GARNER/The Sanford Herald

Jen Ballentine (right) and Ken Burris (left) along with “Simon” will be riding 7,000 miles starting in Sanford in April to meet the donor recipients of Ballentine’s daughter who passed away in 2000 from a car accident.

OBAMA: STIMULUS PLAN STAVED OFF DEPRESSION President Barack Obama hailed Wednesday’s oneyear-old economic stimulus package as an accomplishment that staved off another Great Depression and kept up to 2 million people on the job Page 8A

Journey for Alex Sanford couple’s cross-country trek honors daughter’s memory, her organ donation By CAITLIN MULLEN cmullen@sanfordherald.com

ENTERTAINMENT WILL FERRELL TAKING ‘FUNNY OR DIE’ TO HBO On Friday at midnight, HBO will premiere “Funny or Die Presents,” a new half hour series that compiles clips from the comedy video Web site that Adam McKay and Will Ferrell co-created in 2007

SANFORD — When Jen Ballentine’s daughter Alex was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the 11-year-old always replied, “famous.” Now that Ballentine and husband Ken Burris plan to kick off a cross-country bike trip in April in Alex’s honor, she will be.

“Alex was a very different kind of kid. She was an old soul. Lots of people called her that. More than anything, she was kind. She’s very missed.” JEN BALLENTINE, whose 11-year-old daughter died in 2000

Ballentine and Burris of Sanford will begin the Just Be-

Page 9A

WORLD

OUR STATE

HAITIAN JUDGE TO FREE EIGHT MISSIONARIES

State drops plan to change history curriculum

A Haitian judge said Wednesday he is freeing eight of 10 U.S. Baptists charged with child kidnapping after parents testified they voluntarily handed their children over to the missionaries

By EMERY P. DALESIO

Page 10A

Vol. 80, No. 39 Serving Lee, Chatham, Harnett and Moore counties in the heart of North Carolina

Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH — After critics complained that the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers and the Civil War would get short shrift in the classroom, the state education

HAPPENING TODAY n “Let’s Talk” with Mayor Cornelia Olive will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Enrichment Center.

CALENDAR, PAGE 2A

agency is reworking a plan for high school students to focus on the U.S. history since the 1870s. North Carolina state schools superintendent June Atkinson said Wednesday the uproar was caused by “misinformation” about the first of several

planned drafts for the revised approach to teaching history. “We were going to add more American history in grades K through 12, not less,” Atkinson said. “The dilemma that we have in this area is that every day, we have a new day of history.”

High: 48 Low: 26

North Carolina’s planned revision is part of a national trend to more deeply examine the events of recent decades like the Depression and the Cold War, education experts

See History, Page 6A

INDEX

More Weather, Page 10A

OBITUARIES

JOHN HOOD

Sanford: LaRue Kershner, 79; Shane Owens, 41; Thomas McIntyre, 73; Eleanor West, 42 Cameron: Anna Hardin, 90 Carthage: Ella Phillips, 89

Gov. Perdue should do whatever it takes to put Easley in the rearview mirror

Page 4A

Abby, Graham, Bridge, Sudoku............................. 6B Classifieds ....................... 8B Comics, Crosswords.......... 7B Community calendar .......... 2A Horoscope ........................ 6B Obituaries......................... 5A Opinion ............................ 4A Scoreboard ....................... 4B


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February 18, 2010 by The Sanford Herald - Issuu