HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Still alive Walk-off home run pushes Lee County to state semifinals
Lee County ace Dillon Frye is best known for his right arm — but he won this one with his bat. Frye blasted a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Yellow Jackets to a 4-3 win over Apex on Wednesday night. The victory moves Lee County into the East Region finals, where they will play a best-of-three series against Wilmington Laney. FULL STORY, PAGE 1B
ASHLEY GARNER/The Sanford Herald
Lee County’s Chris Thompson celebrates after scoring a run early in the Yellow Jackets’ 4-3 win.
The Sanford Herald THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2010
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LEE COUNTY
SPACE SHUTTLE
ATLANTIS TOUCHES DOWN AFTER FINAL MISSION Atlantis returned home from its 32nd and final voyage Wednesday, the first of three shuttles that are closing out their flying careers and eventually heading to museums Page 10A
ENTERTAINMENT
Herald Fil Photo
Edna Roshandal (right) and Joan Walunas of Raleigh traveled to Sanford earlier this month for the annual Pottery Festival. The festival, held each year at the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center, is one of the city’s top tourist-attracting events.
PUSSYCAT DOLL WINNER OF ‘DANCING’ CROWN
Nicole Scherzinger and partner Derek Hough dominated throughout the 10th season of the hit ABC show and bested Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek to win the “Dancing” crown Tuesday night
Focus on tourism Area leaders pushing for creation of tourism authority
Love chooses not to introduce occupancy tax in Sanford
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By BILL HORNER III bhorner3@sanfordherald.com
OIL SPILL
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BP EMPLOYS ‘TOP KILL’ METHOD TO STOP SPILL BP on Wednesday launched a bid to plug the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico by forcefeeding it heavy drilling mud, a maneuver known as a “top kill” that has never before been tried 5,000 feet underwater Page 8A
STATE
n effort to create a tourism authority in Lee County seems to be gaining momentum, but key participants in the process are still sorting out how the body would be funded and how it would operate. One thing the so-called “tourism and retiree recruitment” study group agrees upon, however, is this: it’s time someone takes the reins where tourism is involved.
A legislative proposal would make it harder for cities and towns to build broadband Internet systems that compete with big telephone and cable companies and hold down rates Page 7A
Vol. 80, No. 123 Serving Lee, Chatham, Harnett and Moore counties in the heart of North Carolina
See Tourism, Page 6A
By JONATHAN OWENS owens@sanfordherald.com
S
tate House Rep. Jimmy Love Sr. (D-Lee) declined to introduce a bill Wednesday that would’ve allowed Sanford to enact a 3 percent occupancy tax to pay for a tourism authority in the area after the Sanford City Council failed to offer unanimous support for it. The council voted 4-1 to endorse the bill that may be introduced in the N.C. House giving the city the ability to enact
a 3 percent tax on hotel receipts to pay for tourism promotion. Councilman Charles Taylor voted against, while Linwood Mann and Mike Stone were absent from the special called meeting, which took place before the council’s regular law and finance meeting at city hall. Taylor said he voted against the endorsement because it unfairly impacted large companies such as Pfizer, who often bring consultants in to stay at local hotels.
See Tax, Page 6A
LOCAL ECONOMY
Frontier Spinning begins $15.5M expansion Special to The Herald
BILL WOULD IMPACT BROADBAND CITIES
The study group, organized by Sanford Mayor Cornelia Olive, Lee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Richard Hayes and CCCC President Dr. Bud Marchant, has met four times in the last six weeks to discuss how to promote the area as a destination — both for tourists and for retirees. Although an effort to fund a tourism authority with an increase in the city’s hotel and motel occupancy tax was stalled Wednesday — Rep. Jimmy Love
SANFORD — Frontier Spinning Mills has started a $15.5 million expansion project in Sanford that should initially add 45 new technology-based jobs, introduce more advanced machinery to the company’s local operation and provide a substantial boost to the local tax base. From its headquarters in San-
HAPPENING TODAY The Northwood Concert Band, directed by Eugene Cottrell, will present “Our Freedom,” the 11th annual concert for Memorial Day at 7 p.m. in the Benjamin J. Lee Auditorium on the Northwood High School campus. Advance tickets are $10 ahead of time and $15 at the door. CALENDAR, PAGE 2A
ford, Frontier Spinning manufactures yarns for the knitting and weaving trades and operates facilities in North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Based on figures published last fall, the company employs about 1,100 people — with 300 to 400 working in Sanford — and produces more than 500 million pounds of yarn each year. John Maness, executive vice
president for Frontier Spinning, said the expansion followed the company’s decision to adopt a new technology that spins cotton into yarn at higher speeds with better quality. Once the decision was made to expand, the question became where to do it. “Having our headquarters here certainly factored into the decision, but that was just one consideration,” Maness said. “We
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looked carefully for places where we could find everything necessary to make this work. “That includes a skilled workforce, a building that could be adapted quickly for the new technology and a financial package that helped manage the risk required by such a major investment. All of the pieces needed to be in place, and we found that here.”
INDEX
More Weather, Page 10A
OBITUARIES
SCOTT MOONEYHAM
Sanford: Peter Gaidosh, 84; Mary McIver; Leonard Thomas, 78 Pittsboro: Willie Rodgers Jr., 95
Fight over insurance rates for homes on the N.C. coast isn’t over yet
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Abby, Graham, Bridge, Sudoku............................. 5B Classifieds ....................... 8B Comics, Crosswords.......... 6B Community calendar .......... 2A Horoscope ........................ 5B Obituaries......................... 5A Opinion ............................ 4A Scoreboard ....................... 4B