THE MASTERS: Lefty soars into contention heading into final day• Page 1B
The Sunday Herald SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010
SUNDAYQUICKREAD
SANFORDHERALD.COM • $1.50
LEE COUNTY SCHOOLS
Put away those iPods ...
COACH PAUL GAY
Policy would tighten students’ use of cell phones, other devices By CAITLIN MULLEN cmullen@sanfordherald.com
PLAYERS PAST, PRESENT HONOR LCHS COACH PAUL GAY They all still call him “Coach.” And Saturday was a day all about legendary Lee County football coach Paul Gay. Gay was celebrated for his 24 years of service to LCHS with a reunion reception and dinner on Saturday night at the Elks Lodge.
SANFORD — The use of electronic devices at some Lee County Schools is on the verge of changing. At an ad hoc committee meeting of the Lee County Board of Education Thursday, the group — made up
of administrators, teachers and students from various schools — settled on creating a one-sentence policy that can be adjusted by each principal at each school. The policy would manage the use of cell phones, iPods, MP3 players and other electronic devices. The committee decided
to keep the proposed policy simple: “The possession and/or use of all electronic devices are permissible at the discretion of the principal.” From there, each school can tighten it as administrators see fit for that school.
See School, Page 4A
YOUR THOUGHTS Do you think students should be forced to put away the cell phones and MP3 players while on campus? E-mail your thoughts to Editor Billy Liggett at bliggett@sanfordherald. com
LEE COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES
Full Story, Page 1B
CAROLINA
PITTSBORO WOMAN READY TO CELEBRATE 105th BIRTHDAY A spry, lighthearted woman, Huneycutt will turn 105 years old on May 16 — a feat that places her as one of the oldest people in the state. This is a fact she accepts with candor. Full Story, Page 1C
OUR NATION
Photo courtesy of Shane Seagroves
Lee County firefighters walk away from the scene of a tanker and vehicle accident staged at the Emergency Services Training Center on Tramway Road in Sanford Saturday.
ONLY A TEST HOPE LOST AS FINAL FOUR MINERS IN W.V. FOUND DEAD Crews on Saturday began the bleak task of carrying bodies out of a coal mine shattered by an explosion that left 29 men dead, only hours after families’ hopes were crushed when they found out none of the workers survived Full Story, Page 11A
OUR STATE MYSTERY DEEPENS IN MURDER OF KATHY TAFT IN RALEIGH Search warrants and 911 call recordings released Friday provided the first concrete information from investigators about the homicide of state Board of Education member Kathy Taft, but also raised new questions about the case Full Story, Page 8A
Lee County Emergency Services works a fake train-car explosion for real-time experience
By BILLY BALL bball@sanfordherald.com
SANFORD — “This is real for us,” said Alex Collazzo of the Sanford Fire Department. He was speaking moments after a blast rocked the ground near the Lee County Emergency Services Training Center Saturday morning, setting off a chain of fictional events involving a doomed train in downtown Sanford, a potentially deadly substance and an endangered troupe of middle school students. Thankfully, it was all just a drill.
See Drill, Page 4A
Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Munchkin coroner in “The Wizard of Oz” and proclaimed in the movie that the Wicked Witch of the East was “really most sincerely dead,” has died. He was 94. Full Story, Page 13A
Vol. 80, No. 84
bball@sanfordherald.com
Emergency responders in Hazmat uniforms work the scene of a staged train-car explosion in Sanford Saturday.
Serving Lee, Chatham, Harnett and Moore counties in the heart of North Carolina
Herald election forum slated for Monday SANFORD — The Herald will host a forum featuring the seven candidates for three open positions on the Lee County Board of Education on April 12 at the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center in Sanford. The forum will begin with a 6 p.m. reception outside of the center’s auditorium, and the question-and-answer session will begin at 7. Candidates will be provided the opportunity for opening and closing statements and will answer questions submitted by The Herald and its readers. Admission to the forum will be free.
NEXT WEEKEND The second Broadway Our Way Festival will be held in downtown Broadway. The festival will host a street fair, opening at 10 a.m. with food and craft vendors. Enjoy continuous live entertainment throughout the day from two venues. For more information go to broadwaync.com or call (919) 258-9922. CALENDAR, PAGE 2A
Court system getting back to speed after fire By BILLY BALL
ENTERTAINMENT ONE OF FEW REMAINING ‘OZ’ ‘MUNCHKINS’ DIES AT 94
CHATHAM
High: 75 Low: 45
PITTSBORO — Chatham County District Attorney Jim Woodall says the fire that gutted the county courthouse last month will have little impact on his office after this spring. Woodall’s office in the northeast corner of the Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro was among the areas torched when a soldering iron inadvertently touched off a blaze March 25. Many of Woodall’s records, 75 percent of which were stored only on paper, were lost due to the fire and water damage from firefighters’ efforts to save the historic building. But Woodall said he expects no court delays after this month, and that his office should be back up to full speed in terms of its documents in four to six months.
See Courts, Page 4A
INDEX
More Weather, Page 14A
OBITUARIES
JONATHAN OWENS
Sanford: Faye Cox, 79; Sequoya Graham, 20; Samuel Ishmael, 24; Pamela McNeill, 53; Jerry Quick, 62
New thrift store downtown and new details about ‘Steele Pig’ menu
Page 9B
Abby, Graham, Bridge, Sudoku............................. 6B Business .......................... 9B Classifieds ..................... 11B Sunday Crossword ............ 7C Community calendar .......... 2A Horoscope ........................ 6B Obituaries......................... 5A Opinion ..........................6-7A Scoreboard ....................... 4B