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WEDNESDAY, June 15, 2011
Serving All of Person County Since 1881
Copyright The Courier-Times inc. 2011 All Rights Reserved
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Our 129th Year — No. 48
Roxboro, North Carolina
Three Sections — 22 Pages
www.personcountylite.com
No citizens oppose city's budget at pubiic hearing
Slight water rate increase and storm water fee added, but no new tax hike included
By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT
C-T Staff Writer
pboatwright@roxboro-courier.com
Following a public hearing in which
no one spoke regarding the matter,
Roxhoro City Council will meet on
Tuesday, June 21, at noon, to adopt the
$14.7 million budget for the upcoming
fiscal year.
Following two budget work sessions
by council members, a public hearing
on the 2011-12 budget ordinance was
held Tuesday, during the regular June
meeting.
Interim City Manager Tommy War
ren presented the balanced $14,671,757
budget, which holds the tax rate at its
current level of $0,614 per $100. The
budget also does not call for any use
of fund balance, or savings, to balance
revenues and expenditures.
Under the upcoming budget, city resi
dents will not see any additional taxes
in the upcoming year, but they will pay
three percent more for water, as well as
a storm water fee of $1.50 per month.
Also, commercial garbage collection
rates will rise by two percent, and com
mercial water customers will pay a $4.50
per month storm water fee. Industries
in the city will pay $8 in storm water
fees each month.
See NO back page
Kenneth Martin / Smith's Photography
WE DID IT — Members of the Person High School Class of 2011 celebrate their graduation Saturday morning
at Rocket Stadium by filling the air with their mortarboards.
'Great day to be a Rocket'
■ Over 300 graduate from Person High School Saturday
By GREY PENTECOST
C-T Staff Writer
greypentecost@roxboro-courier.com
Student speakers at Person High
School’s graduation took their fellow
graduates on a trip down memory lane
Saturday morning, recalling moments
they could individually and collectively
cherish, and the rituals they would be
glad to leave behind.
Before introducing the three speakers
for the occasion, also members of the
graduating class of over 300 students,
student council president Carson Allen
Kenneth Martin / Smith's Photography
HOORAY — Charlena Edreka
Washington celebrates as she
returns to her chair after receiving
her diploma Saturday morning.
referenced a book that she said contained
“14,000 things to be happy about.”
She declared, “Today, class of 2011,
I am most positive that you and I can
come up with 14,000 things to be happy
about.”
After citing “summer vacation” and
“this beautiful day” as some examples,
she said, “A particular happy thing that
stood out in my mind while reading this
book was feeling good about closure.”
As their time at PHS came to a close,
Allen asked her classmates to consider
whether their class had made its mark,
and whether they could feel happy about
the closing of their high school careers.
She said that she personally thought the
graduates shouldfeel “great” about their
four years of high school, reminding
them of accomplishments like passing
their senior exit speeches; one-third of
the class being named North Carolina
or Person County scholars; and the girls
softball team, led by four seniors, making
an appearance in the third round of the
state playoffs.
In delivering the first address, John
Johnson said that while some people
say, “It’s a good day to be a Rocket,” for
graduating seniors on their graduation
day, “it’s a great day to be a Rocket.”
He told his classmates that one thing
he’d learned during his four years of high
school was that there would always be
people who would doubt them, but that
they had to block out what others may
say and realize their own potentials.
Kenneth Martin / Smith's Photography
OUR FUTURE'S SO BRIGHT —
Graduates Carlina Nichole Worrell
and Anna Mackenzie Wrenn sport
sunglasses at Saturday's PHS
commencement ceremony.
Kenneth Martin / Smith's Photography
STUDENT SPEAKERS — John Quincy Jefferson Johnson, Megan Michelle
Whitfield and Laura Kathlyn Painter wait together to deliver addresses
to the Person High School Class of 2011 Saturday morning.
“We all have our own experiences,”
said Johnson, “and we are all fortunate
to have made it through many obstacles
to arrive at this special occasion.”
In her remarks, Megan Whitfield
recalled some of the things she would
remember about high school, from get
ting lunch at Cookout, to being crowned
homecoming queen.
She asked her fellow seniors what
they would be remembered for, and said
she hoped she would be remembered for
her smile and happiness.
Whitfield told the soon to be gradu
ates to, as they prepared to embark on a
new chapter in their lives, “write your
chapter, and make it a fairytale, with
only a happy ending.”
Laura Painter got the members of
the class to think about some of the
things about high school they probably
wouldn’t miss, saying that “never again”
would the graduating seniors have to
“cruise into the parking lot at exactly
8:05; ...walk through those crowded
hallways with underclassmen; or worry
about dress code violations.”
Painter also reminded the seniors
not to forget those who “shaped” them
—their “true friends,” teachers, admin
istrators and families.
She told the class, “As I stand before
you today, I see a class of dreamers; I see
a class of graduates who will endeavor
to make the world a better place; I see
a class full of beautiful people.
Food stamp recipients
soaring; changes in the
works for FNS benefits
By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT
C-T Staff Writer
pboatwright@roxboro-courier.com
The number of Personians receiving
benefits under the Department of Social
Services’ Food and Nutrition (formerly
food stamps) program has nearly qua
drupled over the past seven years, and
there will soon be a change in the way
benefits are issued as well.
Erica Bryant, Income Maintenance
Program Manager for the Person County
Department of Social Services (DSS),
said there were 1,435 households in
Person County receiving Food and
Nutrition Services (FNS) benefits in
2004. In July 2010, that number had
climbed to 3,148 households. Last
week, Bryant said 3,615 Person County
households were currently receiving
FNS benefits.
Based on the most recent census
numbers, said Bryant, one in three
See FOOD back page
Another suspect in recent
shootings nabbed Tuesday
By TIM CHANDLER
Courier-Times Editor
tchandler@roxboro-courier.com
A Person County Sheriff’s Office dep
uty arrested a former Roxboro resident
Tuesday who is wanted in connection
with a recent shooting that took place
in Roxboro.
Jeremy Eugene Bailey, 30, who had an
Oxford address listed on his arrest report
Tuesday, was taken into custody at that
residence in Granville County.
Bailey, who was being held in the Per
son County j ail Tuesday afternoon with
out privilege of bond, is charged with one
felony count each of attempted murder
and assault with a deadly weapon with
intent to kill inflicting serious injury,
and three felony counts of discharging
a firearm into occupied property. Bailey
was also charged with going armed to
the terror of the public.
The charges against Bailey report
edly stem from a shooting incident on
Sunset Drive on May 30. At that site,
shots were reportedly fired into a crowd
of people as well as into a home and
vehicles. Two people suffered gunshot
wounds at that location, including one
man who was shot in the neck.
Last week, Roxboro Police Chief Todd
Boycher announced that warrants had
been issued for Bailey, along with Des
mond Omar Johnson, 23.
Jeremy Eugene Bailey
The charges came as police were in
vestigating the May 30 shooting incident
as well as a May 28 shooting incident on
Burch Avenue where two people were
injured, including one who suffered a
chest wound.
As a result of the two shootings
and the ongoing investigation, police
had, prior to Tuesday, already arrested
three others on various charges. They
included Brentley Derrick Yancey, 23,
Vernon Antwain Bailey, 23, and Qua-
maine Cunningham, 17.
Person County Schools has a
'CTE program to be proud of
By GREY PENTECOST Othernositiveasnectsof thenrosra
By GREY PENTECOST
C-T Staff Writer
greypentecost@roxboro-courier.com
The Person County Board of Educa
tion was presented with a summary
of the district’s Career and Technical
Education (CTE) program review during
its meeting last week.
Person County Schools (PCS) recently
organized a taskforce to help complete
a review of the program, which was
prompted by the first complete update
of the program’s standard course of
study in seven years. The taskforce was
comprised of 31 members of the commu
nity, including educators and business/
industry representatives.
Robert White, a retired CTE director
from Guilford County Schools, served
as the consultant for the review, and
presented the summary to the board.
“You have a CTE program to be proud
of,” said White.
He pointed out that the program offers
more than 65 courses, with 10 (almost
half) of the CTE teachers being National
Board Certified.
He also highlighted the fact that the
cohort graduation rate for the district’s
CTE in 2009-10 was 88.1 percent, while
the overall graduation rate for PCS was
70 percent.
Other positive aspects of the program
he cited were that “there is a strong
partnership with Piedmont Community
College (PCC),” and a “strong relation
ship with the business/industry com
munity.”
Recommendations for enhancement
of the program included: “Develop a
three to five year strategic plan using
the recommendations, focus and inter
est created by the CTE Program Review
Taskforce; develop and implement a
CTE marketing plan; and develop and
implement a process to ensure optimum
alignmentof CTE courses andprograms
with current and future labor market
needs, and student career/postsecond-
See BOARD back page
INSIDE Wednesday
Agenda A2 Boatwright A2
Classified C section Commentary A5
Do You Know A3 Editorial A4
Entertainment B2 Extension Notes C4
Legal Notices C3 Lifestyle B4-5
Mini-Page B7 Movies A2
Obituaries A9 Sports A6-8
TV Listings B3
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