The Courier Times Weather Outlook TODAY; Hi 75 Lo 54 SUNDAY; Hi 75 Lo 53 SATURDAY, May 7, 2011 Serving All of Person County Since 1881 Copyright The Courier-Times inc, 2011 All Rights Reserved MONDAY; Hi 78 Lo 56 TUESDAY; Hi 77 Lo59 IH Our 129th Year — No. 37 Roxboro, North Carolina Three Sections — 22 Pages www.personcountylite.com 'Serial bank robber' faces more charges Man accused of robbing local BB&T implicated in 2 crimes in Greensboro By TIM CHANDLER Courier-Times Editor tchandler@roxboro-courier.com A Reidsville man charged in connec tion with the April 13 armed robbery of the BB&T bank at 500 N. Madison Blvd. now faces two similar charges. Christian Poythress, 46, of Reids ville, who remains in custody in the Person County jail, was served with two warrants this week charging him with armed robbery in connection with two bank robberies in Guilford County in March. The Guilford County robberies reportedly took place on March 2 and March 24. On the new charges, Poythress, who was already being held under a $1 million bond, was placed under an additional secured bond of $1 million. Poythress was arrested at his Reids ville apartment less than 24 hours after the armed robbery at the Roxboro BB&T location. Roxboro Police Chief Todd Boycher said at the time that Poythress might be charged with additional armed robberies. “This is one of those cases where ev erything worked as it should,” Boycher said Friday. “All law enforcement and the citizens worked together as a team and we were able to put a serial bank robber in jail. We were able to take a dangerous criminal off the streets.” Boycher said Roxboro police continue to work with other agencies in the region in an effort to see if any further charges could be pending against Poythress. “If he has [robbed] three banks, there is the possibility that he has done more,” Boycher said. Poythress entered the BB&T on Madi son Boulevard just after 5 p.m. on April 13. He was arrested at approximately 2 p.m. the following day. Poythress reportedly entered BB&T just as a bank employee was locking the door at the close of the business day Wednesday. He then allegedly followed the employee inside the bank, “produced a [semi-automatic] handgun and an nounced a robbery, ” according to a police See SERIAL back page Christian Poythress Council to consider hike in privilege license fees Tuesday night By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT C-T Staff Writer pboatwright@roxboro-courier.com Roxboro City Council will hold a public hearing on possible increases in business privilege license fees during its May 10 regular meeting. Under the current structure, busi nesses in the city pay a flat fee to oper ate in Roxboro, regardless of their size or sales. The changes council is considering would have certain businesses charged the $50 minimum fee while others would be charged the $50 fee for gross receipts up to $5 million and 50 cents for every $1,000 over $5 million. Interim City Manager Tommy War ren said the city had collected $78,000 in privilege licenses this year. The change to a gross receipts collection method would increase that revenue to about $125,000 per year, he said. Also during next week’s meeting, Roxboro Police Chief Todd Boycher win See POLICE back page Grey Pentecost / C-T LISTENING IN — In Piedmont Community College's technical education building, attendees of the Chick-fil-A Leadercast listen to speakers broadcast live from Atlanta during Friday's event. Leadercast brings national conference live to PCC Friday INSIDE Saturday By GREY PENTECOST C-T Staff Writer greypentecost@roxboro-courier.com Agenda A2 Boatwright.. Churches/Religion B2-3 Classified.... Commentary.. Do You Know Education Lifestyle Obituaries Realty Transfers.. TV Listings . AS Court A3 Editorial A9 Legal Notices . A10 Movies .All Person County Reads... B1 B5 Sports.. A6-8 ... B4 A2 C section B5 A4 C3 A2 4879 08696 Approximately 65 Personians at tended a live broadcast of the Chick-fil- A Leadercast at Piedmont Community College Friday. Roxboro Savings Bank, the Piedmont Community College Foundation and Roxboro Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored the event. Bringing the leadercast to Person County for the first time was the brain child of Art Krueger of Roxboro Savings Bank, who said he wanted to hold the event here in order to increase Perso nians’ enthusiasm by giving them tools to use in their businesses and personal lives, considering the current economic challenges the county has been facing over the past few years. “I hope everyone will walk away with a renewed vigor, in terms of how they approach their own lives on a daily basis, both at home and at work,” said Kruger of attendees. The theme of the leadercast was “Voices of Change,” intended to help attendees “demonstrate the power of change through positive leadership.” The speakers centered their presenta tions on the voices of innovation, pur pose, service, influence and hope. PCC Foundation Executive Director Beth Townsend said the conference featured a “fantastic lineup” of lead ers throughout the country. Speakers included Seth Godin, entrepreneuer, marketing expert and best-seUing author of 12 books; Mack Brown, head coach of the Texas Longhorns; Erin Gruwell, founder and president of the Freedom Writers Foundation; Robin Roberts, an chor of ABC’s “GoodMorning America;” and Muhtar Kent, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The Coca- Cola Company At PCC, local speakers included Glenn See LEADERCAST back page Grey Pentecost / C-T OPENING DAY — Jane Bradsher (right) takes a look at the kale being sold by Ashley Parker from Parker Farm and Vineyard in Hurdle Mills at the Person County Farmers' Market during its opening day of operation last Saturday. Within its first two hours of operating, the market had seen around 165 customers. Market hours are Wednes days from 3 to 7 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. PCS one of 3 districts in state to receive STEM Blended Grant By GREY PENTECOST C-T Staff Writer greypentecost@roxboro-courier.com Person County Schools was recently chosen as one of three school districts in the state to receive a STEM Blended Grant from North Carolina Virtual Pub lic Schools (NCVPS). As a grant recipient, PCS, along with Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Montgom ery County school districts, will work with NCVPS to teach blended courses at Person High School, as well as develop new courses. Two new STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) blended courses, a mix of virtual and traditional face-to- face learning, will be offered to incoming freshmen at PHS next year for earth sci ence and integrated math I. The courses, said PCS Math and Science Program Specialist Harriett Tillett, are designed to be more “interactive and engaging,” as they are geared toward students who are having difficulty in science and math. In each class students will have both a PHS and NCVPS teacher, with part of the class being taught on-site and part online. “This grant is important to PCS for several reasons,” commented Person County Board of Education Chair Gor don Powell in a press release. “Primarily, students will benefit from having the most up to date curriculum in the fields Stovall: N.C. needs to keep up with Va. & S.C.'s incentives By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT C-T Staff Writer pboatwright@roxboro-courier.com Jim Stovall, chair of the Person County Economic Development Com mission, said the Tar Heel state is “sandwiched between Virginia and South Carolina, two very aggressive states,” and should be doing more to lure business and industry. During this week’s meeting of the EDC, Stovall said Virginia recently outsmarted North Carolina to get Mi crosoft to locate a $500 million facility in Boydton, in Mecklenburg County. The cutting-edge data center will serve as the East Coast hub for Micro soft’s online services, according to Data Center Knowledge. Virginia had a fund of $54 million with which to offer incentives to indus try, Stovall said, and recently added $57 million to the pot. The North Carolina House of Rep resentatives this week passed a budget on to the Senate that will trim the One NC fund from $30 million to $10 million, Stovall told EDC members Tuesday He encouraged the members to “let it be known” to legislators and others involved in the state’s economic devel- See STOVALL backpage eg The Courier=Times This Week’s Question: Should Roxboro City Council approve privilege license fees for businesses in the city as proposed? JYes, as proposed JNo JYes, but at an altered rate lit does not matter *^to me Cast Your Vote On-Line At www.roxboro-courier.com Results of our latest poll: Do you plan on shopping this season at the new Person County Farmer’s Market, which will be open each Wednesday and Saturday on Madison Boulevard? See PERSON back page Yes, I will shop frequently - 44% Yes, I will shop some - 21% No, I will not shop there - 21% I am not sure -14%

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