The Courier Times
Weather
Outlook
TODAY: Hi 95 Lo71
THURSDAY: Hi 92 Lo 68
FRIDAY: Hi 88 Lo 67
WEDNESDAY, June ll, 2011
Serving All of Person County Since 1881
Copyright The Courier-Times inc. 2011 All Rights Reserved
IH
Our 129th Year — No. 50
Roxboro, North Carolina
Three Sections — 22 Pages
www.personcountylite.com
That is good coverage
for any county'
I CenturyLink estimates Internet available to
'between 96, 97 or 98-percent' ofPersonians
By TIM CHANDLER
Courier-Times Editor
tchandler@roxboro-courier.com
“That’s a good story right there. That
is good coverage for any county.”
Larry Liles, area operations manag
er for CenturyLink, spoke those words
Monday when showing the Person
Board of County Commissioners a map
of his company’s Internet coverage are
in the county
With the exception of one area in the
northern portion of Person County and
two areas in the eastern portion of the
county, Liles said the rest of the county
either had Internet service or would be
getting it soon.
Liles pointed out an area in the
southwestern portion of the county
that currently did not have Internet
service. That area, Liles said, should
have Internet service available within
45 days.
Liles told commissioners that Cen
turyLink is “looking now to see” if In
ternet service could be made available
to the three areas of the county that do
not currently have access.
Those areas, Liles explained, are
“kind of hard to get to.” He later added
that the “areas wouldbe reaUy expensive
to get to.”
Commission Vice Chairman Kyle
Puryear, who helped spearhead Person
County’s push for high-speed Internet
service, told Liles the results shown on
the map Monday morning were “a con
siderable improvement” from a couple
of years ago. Puryear is also a member
of the county’s High Speed Internet
Committee.
CenturyLink officials had promised to
have Internet access available to approxi
mately 95 percent of Person County by
late last year, but Liles explained Monday
that the company had run into multiple
problems during its efforts.
In a phone conversation with The
Courier-Times Tuesday, Liles said
CenturyLink was “well in excess of 95
percent” high speed Internet coverage
for the county
“This is an estimate, it’s an ap
proximate guess, but I would say we are
somewhere between 96,97 or 98-percent
now,” Liles added. “We are down to
just a few hundred people in the entire
county now.”
Last fall, CenturyLink announced
new service areas almost weekly, but
that progress slowed during the winter
months.
Just last week, however, CenturyLink
officials announced that high speed In
ternet service had been made available to
over 400 new customers and businesses
in the county.
During Monday’s meeting, Puryear
asked Liles if CenturyLink would be
willing to meet with commissioners
and Randy King, president of Electronic
Solutions, Inc., in an attempt to offer
Internet service to areas of the county
that do not have access.
Liles agreed to the meeting, which,
Puryear said Tuesday, had not yet been
scheduled.
Liles praised King last July for his
efforts in getting the county to a more
DSL-capable status.
INTERNET ACCESS — A CenturyLink map outlines where high speed
Internet service is available in Person County. According to
CenturyLink, the green areas represent those with Internet service.
The red areas are those where no service is available and the blue
area will be getting service within 45 days. The white area in the
northwest portion is not in CenturyLink's service area.
Budget cuts
at state level
put strain on
education
By GREY PENTECOST
C-T Staff Writer
greypentecost@roxboro-courier.com
Person County’s schools will con
tinue to see a strain in resources in
the upcoming school year due to cuts
in the recently approved state budget
for education.
In public schools, position allotments
include an 18.8 percent reduction in
assistant principals and a five percent
reduction in instructional support.
Reductions were also made to
central office, instructional supplies,
textbooks, non-instructional support
and transportation.
Funding for other programs was
eliminated all together, including fund
ing for mentors for beginning teachers.
The N.C. Teaching Fellows program,
which awards scholarships to students
who agree to teach for four years in the
state after graduating from college, is
being phased out. The state will fulfill its
commitment for the class of 2011-12.
Another big change was the moving
of the More at Four program from the
Department of Public Instruction to
the Division of Child Development at
PCS fares
well in
EOG testing
Tim Chandler / C-T
SUMMER COLORS — The Perennial Carden at the Person County
Museum of History is in full bloom.
See BUDGET page A3
INSIDE Wednesday
Agenda
Commentary
Editorial
Extension Notes.
Lifestyle
Mini-Page
Obituaries
Sports
A2
A5
A4
86
,.B4-5
87
A9
..A6-8
Classified C Section
Commission unaninmously
approves $48.8 million budget
Do You Know...
Entertainment..
Legal Notices...
Looking Back...
Movies
Pentecost
TV Listings
A3
82
C2-3
A2
A2
A2
83
By TIM CHANDLER
Courier-Times Editor
tchandler@roxboro-courier.com
8 6 9 6
“I think 40,000 people in Person
County benefitted from this budget.”
Commissioner Sam Kennington
made that statement Monday morning
shortly after making a motion to adopt
a $48.8 million budget ordinance for the
upcoming fiscal year.
Commissioner Frances Blalock
seconded the motion, which passed
unanimously.
The $48,843,728 budget for the upcom
ing fiscal year, which begins July 1, is
Preliminary test scores reveal that
Person County Schools (PCS) had nine
of 10 schools meeting expected or high
growth, and eight of 10 accomplishing
gains in overall performance composites
for the 2010-11 school year.
According to unofficial results,
Helena, Stories Creek and Woodland
elementary schools were recognized as
Schools of Distinction achieving high
growth under the North Carolina ABCs
Accountability Model. Stories Creek
increased its score this year to 87.17,
from 82.19 in 2009-10. Helena’s overall
performance composite rose from 87.34
in 2009-10 to 89.1 in 2010-11, and Wood
land’s performance composite increased
from 85.71 to 86.98.
Oak Lane Elementary and South
ern Middle School were recognized as
Schools of Distinction, meeting Ex
pected Growth.
“In order for a school to be recognized
as a School of Distinction, 80 percent or
more of the students must be on grade
level and progressing at the expected
rate,” explained PCS Director of Ac
countability Services Deanene Deaton
in a press release.
Oak Lane’s performance composite
of 83.54 remained about the same as
last year’s score of 83.58. SMS achieved
an 8.02 increase, going from 72.32 points
last year to 80.343 this year.
“The hard work and determination of
our students, coupled with our dedicated
focus on student achievement is the key
to our success, ” said SMS Principal John
McCain in a press release. “We have
great students with supportive parents.
SMS teachers collaborate continually to
create rich lessons embedded in higher
order thinking skills and technology to
engage our students.”
North Elementary School with a score
of 74.53, andNorthEndElementary with
a score of 78.21 were both recognized
as Schools of Progress meeting High
he Courier=Times
This Week’s Question:
Do you currently have
high-speed internet
service at your home?
JYes, throuqh
’^CenturyLink
JYes, through ^
"“^another provider
INo, it is not
available where I
live
I No, it is available^
~^but I do not have it
Cast Your Vote On-Line At
www.roKboro-courier.com
Results of our latest poll:
What additional items do you think
commissioners should approve in
the upcoming budget for county
employees?
Merit pay -14%
An increase in 401K
contributions - 2%
An across the board COLA
raise -11%
All of the above -14%
Two of the above - 9%
None of the above - 50%
See COMMISSIONERS page A3
See PERSON page A3
C-T conducting
circulation drive
Circulation, Inc. of Albany Ga.
is currently conducting a circula
tion drive over the phone for The
Courier-Times.
One-year subscriptions are being
sold and all phone numbers in the
Person County area will be called
during the drive.
'Not everything in the budget is horrible'
Wilkins pleased with state funding for economic & job development, but
unhappy with results for environmental protection & public education
By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT
C-T Staff Writer
pboatwright@roxboro-courier.com
Rep. W.A. (Winkle) Wilkins
“Not everything in the bud
get is horrible,” state Rep. W.A.
(Winkle) Wilkins, D-Person,
said regarding the General As
sembly’s two-year state budget
enacted last week.
On Tuesday, Wilkins told The
Courier-Times that his “three
big things” of economic devel
opment, job development and
jobs maintenance funding were
passed by the legislature.
Wilkins said there was “a lot
of” economic development fund
ing in the latest state budget, with
lawmakers appropriating $10
million in the One NC fund.
Jobs Development Investment
Grants, (JDIG) which award an
nual cash grants to businesses
that locate or expand in North
Carolina, was “fully funded,”
Wilkins said, as was JMAC, the
Jobs Maintenance and Capital De
velopment Fund, which encour
ages retention of existing jobs.
“My Republican chairs were
willing to listen to me and oth
ers,” Wilkins said, on the subjects
of economic development and job
creation and retention.
But, he said, where other
matters were concerned, there
was not a lot of reaching across
aisles.
“Fm very much concerned
about environmental protec
tion,” Wilkins said, saying that
the state Department of Envi
ronment and Natural Resources
(DENR) funding had been “dras
tically slashed” in the latest state
budget. He said DENR estimates
it will lose “400-some positions”
See ALL back page