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• See Sports on page lit* • See Opinion/Forum pages on A6&7 • WINSTON-SALEM, N.C THURSDAY, June 1, 2017 Volume 43, Number 39 Emergency Services got funding for eight additional paramedics in the budi et passed last week by the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE_ Forsyth County commissioners unani mously passed a budget on Thursday, May 25, that included, among other things, eight new paramedics to help with increased Emergency Services (EMS) demand, including opioid overdoses. The new positions were part of a $426.5 million budget that goes into effect on July 1. Forsyth EMS Director Dan Ozimek said that his department, which has 157 paramedics currently, has been using overtime to meet all the calls for emergency service. He said a growing population with an increasing amount of older residents is causing the increase as is the nationwide opioid epidemic. “We’re averaging five or six overdoses GOVERNING County budget adds help with opioid crisis a day and we had days where we’ve had as many as 14 or 15 in day,” Ozimek told The Chronicle. “Just that type of call alone impacted our need to The originally comes from rev enue created by the portion of property taxes associated with the bonds along with revenue increases and expenditure adjust ments. The budget still lowers the tax rate slightly Witherspoon from73.1 cent cent tinnnnn in positions, with four more added last Thursday, which cost $167,049. That and other additions from the commissioners’ budget workshops added $6 million to the county manager’s recommended $420 million budget. The additional money property to 72.35 cent because most prop erty values rose in this year’s reappraisal. The budget was hailed by commission ers. “This is the best budget I’ve seen since I’ve been on the board,” said Everette Witherspoon, who was first elected in 2010. Witherspoon praised the $338,000 in funding added to the budget to maintain the Nurse-Family Partnership. The pro gram, whose grant funding was coming to an end, lets nurses visit first time mothers living in poverty. The county plans to seek further partial funding from Kate B. Reynolds Charitable trust. The budget also funded the Cleveland Avenue Dental Center, which mainly serves Medicaid patients and is expected to lose $326,293 this fiscal year, while county staff looks for ways the clinic can sustain itself. Fleming El-Amin, the newest county commissioner, said he was glad that the See Budget on AS Photo by Tevin Stinson Last week N.C. Sen. Paul Lowe Jr. and Rep. Ed Hanes, Jr. introduced a new computer coding elective to students at Carver High School. Carver students learn ins and outs of coding N.C. lawmakers launch computer-related elective BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE In an attempt to get more stu dents to pursue careers in computer science, N.C. Sen. Paul Lowe Jr. and Rep. Ed Hanes Jr..launched a new hands-on initiative at Carver High School last week that teaches stu dents computer coding. Currently there are nearly 18,000 open computing jobs in North Carolina. By 2018 over half of all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs are pro jected to be in computer science related jobs, with a starting salary of about $45,000 and national average of $104,000. “Many of the jobs in the future will deal with what’s called computer coding. This is an exciting time for these students because they can learn this stuff and earn a lot of money,” said Lowe during the hands-on pres entation at Carver. Coding is a set of rules that define how a program should be formatted. Thousands of different rules make it possible for us to use computer soft ware, and the apps that keep us glued to our phones and other mobile devices. At a place in time where cell See Coding on A5 KLKtllUWS Again, N.C. High Court must review redistricting BY CASH MICHAELS FOR THE CHRONICLE For a third time since 2011, the state Supreme Court will have to review North Carolina’s legislative and con gressional redistricting maps, and this time. North Carolina justices will have to heed the U.S. High Court’s finding that the state’s redistricting process is unconstitu tionally flawed because of racial gerrymandering. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sent a 2011 redistricting lawsuit, Dickson Carolina justices again after the federal High Court ruled last week that the state’s Republican-led General Assembly “stacked-and-packed” black Democrats into the 1st and 12th Congressional Districts so that they would have less influence in other congressional districts. In 2015, the GOP-led N.C. Supreme Court ignored federal direction that the 2011 maps were racially skewed, ruling instead that the overuse of race in the voting maps was entirely proper. That ruling is not likely to return now that the N.C. Supreme Court has a 5-4 Democratic majority. “The N.C. Supreme Court is given another opportuni ty to correct its ill-analyzed decision, which it entered in Dickson v. Rucho, “said attorney Irving Joyner, chairman of the N.C. NAACP Redress Committee, and law profes sor at N.C. Central University School of Law. “The [2015] N.C. Supreme Court opinion was vacated by the [U.S. Supreme] Court, which mandates that it was wrong - See Maps on A8 v. Rucho, back to the North ; *003*020?******F®M CARKTLOT 0367A**C016 ADMINSTRATION FORSYTH COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 201 N CHESTNUT ST WINSTON SALEM. NC 27101-4120 01 Hundreds of people celebrated Memorial Day with HARRY Retired Air Force Veteran Dr. Sylvester Caraway Jr. salutes during the national anthem. _ BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE Hundreds of people helped HARRY Veterans Community Outreach Services celebrate fallen service men and women earlier this week when the nonprofit organization that offers countless services 'or veterans hosted the linth annual Memorial [)ay Commemoration and 3icnic. This year’s celebration ield at Bolton Park fea ured live music, fun and »ames for children, free food and prize giveaways, rhe Winston-Salem State University Rams Know HOW (Healthcare. on Wheels) was there giving free checkups. To jumpstart the cele bration, North Forsyth High School JROTC and members of the Buffalo Soldiers 9th & 10th Horse Calvary Association pre sented the colors. Next, several local and state elected officials took to the stage to commemo rate the lives of men and women who gave the ulti mate sacrifice to keep us safe. Mayor Allen Joines said, "As the saying goes, freedom really isn't free. See HARRY on A8 We Rent U-tiaul Trucks! Professional self-storage. MOVE IN SPECIAL $25 lor first n'nnlh ,y •••ASSURED 222 STORAGE of Winston-Salem, LLC (336) 924-7000 www.assuredstoragews.com Office Hours: Mort-Fri 9am-t>pm: Sat 9am-3pm ^Gate Hours: 5am- 10pm 4191 Bethania Station Road • Winston-Salem t
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