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SATURDAY, June 25, 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. 51
Roxboro, North Carolina
Two Sections — 20 Pages
www.personcountylite.com
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facebook
Facebook hdp> you connect and chare with
the peoftit in your life.
Ben Up
Be wary of online activity
Social networking sites can be fun, but also dangerous
By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT
C-T Staff Writer
pboatwright@roxboro-courier.com
Police chief warns citizens about how they use the Internet.
Roxboro Police Chief Todd
Boycher said this week that he
would “counsel people that it’s
not the best decision to share
check-ins and check-outs on Fa
cebook” or other social network
ing sites.
Boycher said the practice,
which seems to he gaining popu
larity, should not he followed
“simply because it allows unsa
vory folks who may have access
to your wall to know you’re in
Myrtle Beach and your property
is unoccupied.”
Boycher, who uses Facebook
himself, said, “A lot of people
simply put too much information
out there” on social networking
sites.
He said those who felt the need
to contact friends while out of
town should, “instead of post
ing on your wall, send a private
message or an e-mail. Wait until
you return from your trip to post
the whole thing” in a place where
anyone may have access to the
information.
“It’s nice to keep up with
folks, but the trade off is that the
criminal element has unlimited
resources to draw from because
there is so much information out
there,” Boycher said.
The father of two daughters
also cautioned, “Any social net
working site with lots of young
people” using it “is a natural
place for pedophiles” to prey He
said he would advise parents to
closely monitor their children’s
Internet usage and to check
their Facebook and other social
networking pages daily.
“Monitor what your children
are doing, look at their friend
requests,” said Boycher, “and
keep a close eye on their Face-
hook pages.”
See POLICE back page
RCS has decreases,
gains in EOG scores
By GREY PENTECOST
C-T Staff Writer
greypentecost@roxboro-courier.com
Unofficial 2010-11 end of course test
scores for Roxboro Community School
(RCS) reveal both decreases and gains
in the percentage passing.
In middle school math, the percent
age of students at or above grade level
in the sixth-grade decreased slightly
from 100 percent in 2009-10 to 97.5 per
cent in 2010-11.
RCS Principal Walter Finnigan al
lowed that it is hard to keep students
at 100 percent.
In seventh-grade math, passing
scores decreased from 93 percent to 91
percent.
The eighth-grade math scores re
mained consistent, dropping from 92.8
to 92.2 percent.
In reading, the sixth-grade came in
at 95 percent passing, versus 98 percent
last year. Gains were recorded in the
seventh- and eighth-grades, with the
See ROXBORO back page
BOE to ponder School
of Choice options at
Thursday meeting
By GREY PENTECOST
C-T Staff Writer
greypentecost@roxboro-courier.com
The Person County Board of Educa
tion will consider several matters relat
ing to operations in the next school year
during its final meeting of the fiscal
year Thursday.
The board will meet at 12:30 p.m.
on June 30 in the board of education
boardroom, located on the ground floor
of the Person County Office Building at
304 S. Morgan St.
During a recent meeting the board
indicated that it wanted to continue
with the expansion of the 1:1 Laptop
Initiative, despite cuts in funding.
The project was launched at the be
ginning of the 2010-11 school year, and
entailed providing laptops for each sev
enth-grade student in both Southern and
Northern middle schools. The choice
to start with grade seven, said Schools
Supt. Dr. Larry W. Gartner, was made
due to the fact that in 2010-11 the state
writing test for seventh-grade would be
administered in an online format for
the first time.
PCS is proposing that the program
be expanded to the rest of the middle
school grades, as well as fourth-grade,
in the coming school year. This would
coincide with the fourth-grade state
writing test being administered online
for the first time.
Also during the meeting, due to the
possibility of having to name a “School
of Choice,” the board will designate two
other schools as alternative options.
If a school does not meet AYP (annual
yearly progress) for two years in a row,
federal mandates require that school to
become a School of Choice the following
year, meaning students in that school
district may choose to attend one of two
other schools in the system that have
been designated by the school board as
options.
The board agenda also includes re
vising the 2011-12 calendar, since the
General Assembly recently approved leg
islation requiring local school districts
to increase the number of instructional
days from 180 to 185. However, the Depart
ment of Public Instruction announced
Friday that it had “approved a policy
outlining the process for local school
districts and charter schools to apply for
waivers to the new 185-day instructional
calendar for the 2011-12 school year.”
In other business, PCS Human Re
sources Director Dan Holloman will
present a timeline for bidding driver
education services, per the board’s
request.
A new look is coming
G-T redesign will be revealed on Saturday, July 2
One week from today. The Courier-
Times will reveal a new look to our
readers.
Earlier this week, C-T Publisher
Brinn Clayton announced the change
was coming and we decided today to
give you a sneak preview of one of the
changes you will notice next Saturday.
The headline accompanying this sto
ry is in the new font family The C-T will
be using in issues beginning Saturday,
July 2. There will be a host of variations
used throughout the paper
Our type style and point size for the
editorial content of the stories will re
main the same as it currently is and the
width of our newspaper will remain the
same, but that is about all that has not
been tweaked in some form or fashion
during the redesign of The C-T.
As Clayton pointed out earlier this
week, the changes are being made to
appeal to every Personian—the young
and the old.
The first change that may be noticed
by readers will be the nameplate at
the top of the front page. The C-T has
used the current nameplate for over 20
years, but beginning next Saturday, the
nameplate used prior to August of 1989
will be used and is in the classic Old
English type.
The new design will also feature new
page headers for the various sections
of the newspaper and should provide
our readership with a more modern
presentation of the news.
It is paramount to note that our goal
is to continue to bring you the news of
Person County That is important to you
and as much a priority for us now as it
ever has been. We’re just going to bring
you that news with a new look.
We welcome your comments on the
new design either by phone at 336-599-
0162 or via e-mail at design@roxboro-
courier.com.
— Tim Chandler, Editor
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL FUN
A host of churches in Per
son County have either had
Vacation Bible School or are
in the process of planning
for the annual tradition.
C-T staffer Grey Pentecost
stopped in at Theresa Bap
tist Church this week to
check out the fun. In the
photo above, VBS attendees
sing and move to the music.
Pictured on the front row
are, left to right, Matthew
Sanford, Billy Langford,
Jacob Seamons, Allie Barker,
Karsin Lee, Grace Long and
Paige Carver. In the photo
at left, Ericka Woolbert
helps Emma Bowes (left)
and Taylor Rouse (far right)
"mine for gold" Thursday
The theme of the week at
Theresa Baptist Church was
Gold Rush: Discovering the
Rock of Ages.
Jobless rate remains below 10% in May
By TIM CHANDLER
Courier-Times Editor
tchandler@roxboro-courier.com
After experiencing three consecu
tive months with unemployment rate
decreases. Person County saw its jobless
rate inch up slightly in May, according
to numbers released Friday by the Em
ployment Security Commission (ESC)
of North Carolina.
According to Friday’s ESC numbers,
Person County’s unemployment rate
rose 0.1 percent to 9.9 percent in May
from its final adjusted jobless mark of
9.8 percent in April.
Prior to the slight jobless rate in
crease in May, Person County’s unem
ployment rate had fallen 0.5 percent
in April, 0.3 percent in March and 0.5
percent in February.
Statewide, unemployment rates
decreased in just under half of North
Carolina’s 100 counties in May. Rates
decreased in 40 counties, increased in 44
counties and remained the same in 16.
In April, j obless rates decreased in 73
counties across the state after falling in
INSIDE Saturday
Agenda A2
Business A2
Classified B6-7
Do You Know A3
Education A10
Legal Notices B7
Looking Back A3
Obituaries All
Sports A6-7
Boatwright
Churches/Religion.
Commentary
Editorial
Inside NASCAR
Lifestyle
Movies
Realty Transfers
TV Listings
A2
B2 3
A5
A4
AS
A9
kl
B4
B5
4879 08698
99 counties in February
“Seasonal hiring has begun to in
crease in some areas of North Caro
lina,” ESC Chairman Lynn R. Holmes
said. “We experienced growth in several
of our industrial sectors last month and
over the year.
“We continue to focus on growing
jobs and working with out economic,
education and workforce development
partners,” Holmes added. “Our offices
remain committed to assisting j oh seek
ers and employers.”
North Carolina had 40 counties that
were at or below the state’s unadjusted
employment rate of 9.7 percent in
May.
In April, the state had 36 counties
at or below the unadjusted rate of 9.5
percent.
See PERSON backpage