WEDNESDAY
August 24,2011
Roxboro,
North Carolina
www.personcountylife.com
75 Cents
PARTY TIME!
Are you ready?
Personality Fesdval
returns to Uptown
Roxboro Friday
and Saturday
WEEK 2:
Rocket football
squad hopes to
bounce back after
opening defeat A6
' t > *
T:V:'y/i"'. //)’' - - 07?:if //.
yf;/:u:saf/l7trufj7j:nx]
'uzirnru/mmnirnnuiiit
'TTTnTunin/iTfrntmniTnn
WHAT'S UP?:
Fhe What’s Going
On features checks
on the solar park off
501 South ^2
FALL SPORTS:
The annual C-TFall
Sports Section is
included in today’s
edition. Check it outl
SECTION C
-]i
DEATHS
i[-
Howard Bell Harris, 85
Roxboro
Elmer Carl Lewis, 69
Roxboro
Wilma Gentry Duke
Oakley, 80
Rougemom
Samuel Wayne Paschall,
65
Creedmoor
April L. Walters Walker,
35
Rougemont
Dorothy Bell Wood, 84
Roxboro
See page A9
-mmi
AGENDA
A3
CLASSIFIED
D SECTION
COMMENTARY
AS
DO YOU KNOW
A2
ENTERTAINMENT
B2
EXTENSION NOTES
B6
GREY MATTERS
A2
LEGAL NOTICES
D3
LIFESTYLE
B5
LOOKING BACK
A2
MILESTONES
B4
MINI PAGE
B7
MOVIES
A2
OBITUARIES
A9
OPINION
A4
SPORTS
A6-8
TV LISTINGS
B3
Our
129th year
Number 68
Four sections
50 pages
Copyright
2011
The Courier-Times Inc.
I rights reserved
Serving all of Person County since 1881
Couricr-®me£i
School of choice class sizes will be monitored by PCS
Person County Schools’ students will begin new year Thnrsday morning
BY GREY PENTECOST
COURIER-TIMES STAEE WRITER
greypentetost@roxboto-tourler.tom
Person County Schools will
start its first day of classes
Thursday, and central office staff
will be keeping an eye on enroll
ment numbers and class sizes at
the district’s two school of choice
options — Oak Lane and Stories
Creek elementary schools — ac
cording to PCS Human Resources
Director Dan Holloman.
Oak Lane and Stories Creek
were designated transfer options
for students in the South Elemen
tary district this year, after South
was placed under Title I School
Improvement.
Currently, Stories Creek and
Oak Lane have a total of approxi
mately 85 to 90 students enrolled
from the South district. Trans
fers were accepted until Aug. 17,
the first day back to school for
teachers.
Two teachers had been moved
SeeVtS.PagelO
‘I feel the
earth move’
5.9 quake near Richmond
rattles walls in Person
BY TIM CHANDLER
COURIER-TIMES EDITOR
tchnntller@roxboto-toutlet.com
The Courier-Times was inun
dated with telephone calls Tues
day afternoon at approximately
2 p.m. Carole King was not one
of the callers, but one would sur
mise many were likely humming
the lyrics to her former hit song,
I Feel the Earth Move.
Yes, Personians, that rattling,
rumbling and shaking felt across
Person County was the result of
an earthquake.
The IJ.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) reported that an earth
quake measuring 5.o on the Rich
ter scale occurred at 1:51 p.m.
Tuesday near Mineral and Lou-
sa, Va., which are approximately
40 miles northwest of Richmond.
The earthquake was the largest
in Virginia since May 5,1897, ac
cording to the USGS.
The earthquake was report
edly felt as far south as Atlantic
Beach; as far north as New York
City; and as far west as Ohio.
Reports Tuesday were that por
tions of the Pentagon, White
House, Capitol and National Mall
in Washington, D.C. were evacu
ated.
People throughout Person
County felt the effects of the
earthquake, which the USGS
said was about a half-mile below
ground.
According to North Carolina
Emergency Management offi
cials there were no immediate re
ports of damage in the state and
The C-T was not informed of any
damage locally by Person County
Emergency Management Servic
es officials.
No damage may have been re
ported, but shortly after The C-T
updated its Facebook page, sto
ries from Personians began pour
ing in.
“The Roxboro Building shook
pretty good,” Randy King,
owner of Electronic Solutions,
Inc., wrote. The building shook
“enough so that we all proceeded
out the front door to see what was
going on. Front doors continued
to rattle until the end. Haven’t felt
anything like that since working
at the power plant and the tur
bine out of balance during start
up. Lots of steel and concrete
moving.”
“We had [pictures] fall, the
computer monitor walk and my
child’s crib shook and woke her
up,” Becky Johnson Link posted.
“It was a little unnerving.”
Facebook reports on The C-T
site also indicated that the earth
quake was felt at Piedmont Secu
rity Insurance on Durham Road,
Piedmont Parachute on Durham
Road, Person High School and in
Hurdle Mills.
“Felt it here in South Boston,
Va., Samantha Williams Hall
wrote. “Shook my house, knocked
two glasses off the counter and
moved my [refrigerator]. Not an
experience I liked alone.”
USGS ShakeMap: VIRGINIA
Tue Aug23, 20n 17:51:04GMT MSS N37 94 W77 94 Depth: 6 0km ID cOOOSild
38.5*
37.5*
36.5*
-79* -78* -77*
M«p V«f*kin 2 ProcMMd Tu* Aug 23, 2011 12:S8:S6 PM MOT - NOT REVIEWED BY HUMAN
-76*
SHAKING
No) tell
Weak
Ughi
Moderate
Strong
Very strong
Sevefe
1
Violent
Extreme
POTtWTIW.
DAMAGE
nooo
non©
Vort liflhi
Light
Modoraio
Mod(i*aIoHw*vy
ttoavy
Very Heavy
PEAK ACC^^
.17
.17-1.4
1.4-3.9
3S-9.2
9.2-18
18 34
34 $5
65 124
>124
PEAK VEL^cm.'t)
0 1
0,1 1.1! 1,1 3,4
3,4 $ 1
8.1-16
16-31
31-60
60-116
>116
IKSmUMEKTAL
IMTENaTY
'
IMII
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII g
See SHAKING, Page 10
Rougemont woman struck by car, dies
BY TIM CHANDLER
COURIER-TIMES EDITOR
tchan(ller@roxboto-courler.com
A Rougemont woman died
Friday night as a result of in
juries she sustained when she
was struck by a vehicle on N.C.
49 North.
April Lynn Walters Walker,
35, of 220 Wiley Lunsford Rd.
in Rougemont was pronounced
dead at Person Memorial Hos
pital following the accident that
occurred just prior to 9 p.m., 1.3
miles north of Roxboro.
According to a report filed by
investigating North Carolina
Highway Patrol Trooper J.A.
Gentry, Walker “darted into the
travel lanes” of N.C. 49 North
and was struck in the north
bound lane by a 2004 Cadillac,
which was driven by Thomas
Mitchell Blanks, 47, of 752 Wind
Dancer Lane. Blanks was re
portedly traveling 45 miles per
hour at the time, which is the
posted speed limit on that por
tion of N.C. 49 North.
No charges were filed in con
nection with the accident.
A memorial service for Walk
er will be held at 11 a.m. Monday
in the Brooks & White Funeral
Home Chapel.
Jeffers eleeted first viee president of NCACC
BY TIM CHANDLER
COURIER-TIMES EDITOR
tchnu()ler@roxboro-courler.com
L Jk
Ray Jeffers
Person County Commissioner
Ray Jeffers was elected first vice
president of the North Carolina
Association of County Commis
sioners on Saturday during the
association’s annual conference,
which was held in Cabarrus
County
Superior Court Judge Jim
Ammons performed the inaugu
ration ceremony for Jeffers and
the other elected commissioners
who will serve as NCACC officers
in 2011-12.
As first vice president of the
NCACC, Jeffers will work closely
with the other members of the
NCACC Executive Committee to
guide the NCACC Board of Direc
tors on legislative and adminis
trative issues affecting counties
throughout the year.
Jeffers is in his first term as
a member of the Person Board
of County Commissioners. He
has served as a member of the
NCACC Board of Directors in
each of the past two years.
In 2010-11, he chaired the asso
ciation’s Task Force on Youth In
volvement. In 2009-10, he chaired
the NCACC Agriculture Steering
Committee.
Jeffers is also the NCACC’s
designee on the North Carolina
Agricultural Development and
Farmland Preservation Trust
Fund Board.
“I am truly honored to be
elected by my peers and col
leagues from across the state,”
Jeffers said. “Having chaired two
NCACC committees and serv
ing two consecutive years on the
board of directors, I am overjoyed
and looking forward to this new
position and the years leading up
to my term as president.
“I have outlined two initia
tives I desire to undertake during
y?? JEFFERS, Page 10