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November 26,2011
Roxboro,
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Stormtrooper visits
Woodland School as
part of fall bookfair
festivities B2
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C-T TOURNEY:
Get all the results of
first round action in
C-T Thanksgiving
Classic Sib
SANTA'S HELP:
The Roxboro Wom
an s Club collects toys
and money to assist
Santa \s Helpers B7
FINAL WEEK:
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Pickin ’ Party bZ
—lEMaE—
Huldah Jones Hall Ber-
ryhill, 90
Roxboro
Clarice Ellis Lee, 90
Roxboro
Woodrow Allen Myers, 67
Stem
Leonard Lee Watlington, 76
DanvUle, Va.
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BIO
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MOVIES
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A9
OPINION
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PIGSKIN PICKIN' PARTY
A8
REALTY TRANSEERS
B6
SPOTLIGHT
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STRAIGHTAHEAD
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TV LISTINGS
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Our
129th year
Number 95
Two sections
20 pages
Copyright
2011
The Courier-Times Inc.
I rights reserved
Shoppers abound on Black Friday
Merchants
pleased with
steady stream
of customers
BY GREY PENTECOST
COURIER-TIMES STAEE WRITER
gteypentetost@roxboto-courier.com
The biggest sale weekend of
the year began a little earlier this
year, with some stores opening
Thanksgiving Day, rather than the
customary day after. Other stores
in Roxboro waited to begin their
Black Friday sales on Friday, and
all those The Courier-Times spoke
with yesterday reported good cus
tomer traffic.
Many stores had customers
waiting at the door when they
opened. Peebles manager Creed
Guilliams found this to be the
case when the store opened at 6
a.m. Friday.
The Justin Bieber perfume
with CD was a popular selling
item, said Guilliams, as were
“Tumbler” toys and ladies boots.
The store’s early bird specials
were carried through 1 p.m. Fri
day, with other sales continuing
MIKE FLOYD I COURIER-TIMES
^eSHOPPINGj/fege 10
Holiday shoppers load items into a trunk Friday morning at Lowe’s Home Improvement Store on Durham Road.
MIKE FLOYD I COURIER-TIMES
Shoppers leave Roses after making Black Friday purchases.
Community Conversations slated
Monday night at Kirby Theater
BY TIM CHANDLER
COURIER-TIMES EDITOR
tcboncller@(oxboto-courler.com
The Person Board of County
Commissioners will hold a spe
cial meeting Monday, Nov. 28, at
6:30 p.m. at the Kirby Civic Au
ditorium at 215 N. Main St.
The informal Community
Conversations is being held in
an attempt to receive feedback
from the community about ser
vices offered by Person County
and to receive suggestions for
improving county government.
The commissioners held two
similar events earlier this year
prior to approving a budget
for the current fiscal year. The
Community Conversations is
an open forum to allow citizens
to have dialogue with commis
sioners in an informal setting.
“This is the third opportu
nity the board has created like
this in the last six months or
so,” Person County Manager
Heidi York said. “The first two
were during the development of
the annual budget.”
York pointed out that Mon
day’s community gathering
would be different than the pre-
SeemmOtl.Page 10
Employee compensation study to be
revisited by county boardDec. 5
BY TIM CHANDLER
COURIER-TIMES EDITOR
tchnntller@roxboto-tourlet.tom
During its meeting earlier
this month, the Person Board
of County Commissioners ta
bled a decision on an employee
compensation study present
ed by County Manager Heidi
York.
Commissioners will revisit
the compensation study when
they meet again in a special
meeting scheduled on Monday,
Dec. 5. Initially, commission
ers had only been scheduled
to meet once in December on
Monday, Dec. 12.
York was directed by com
missioners during budget dis
cussions earlier this year to
See COMMISSION, Page 10
MIKE FLOYD I COURIER-TIMES
Work on the North Main Street sidewalk construction project continued this week. McQueen
Construction, which was contracted to perform the work, estimates the work will be completed
by January.
State’s unemployment
rate dips to 10.4%
during Oetober
BY TIM CHANDLER
COURIER-TIMES EDITOR
tchan(lier@roxboto-courier.com
After rising for four consecu
tive months. North Carolina’s
unemployment rate decreased
slightly in October, according to
information released Tuesday by
the state’s Employment Security
Commission (ESC).
The state’s jobless rate dipped
slightly from 10.5 percent in
September to 10.4 percent in Oc
tober as the number of people
employed in North Carolina in
creased slightly
Total nonfarm jobs grew by
5,500 in October with the private
sector gaining 700 of those jobs.
“The data reflects that private
sector employment grew this
month — as it has done in eight
of the past 10 months — and that
there was a modest decline in the
unemployment rate, but there is
still a great deal of work ahead,”
Lynn R. Holmes, Department of
Commerce, Division of Employ
ment Security assistant secretary,
said. “None of us will be satisfied
until every North Carolinian who
wants a job has one.”
Prior to being at 10.5 percent in
September, the state’s unemploy
ment rate was at 10.4 percent in
August.
That mark was up from 10.1
percent in July and 9.9 percent in
June.
In the three months prior to
June, North Carolina’s unem
ployment rate had held steady at
9.7 percent.
ESC officials will release Oc-
fober unemployment rates for
each of the state’s 100 counties on
Thursday, Dec. 1.
The September unemployment
rate for Person County was 9.6
percent, which was down 0.6 per
cent from August.
Seasonally adjusted total non
farm industry employment, as
gathered in the state through the
monthly establishment survey,
increased by 5,500 to 3,871,300 in
October.
That increase came on the
heels of a decrease of 22,200 in
September.
The number of people unem
ployed decreased by 8,273 in Oc
tober to 466,568. The number of
people employed increased by
5,730 (seasonally adjusted), to
4,038,266.
Since this time last year, the
number of people unemployed
has increased by 25,868. The
state’s unemployment rate in Oc
tober of 2010 was 9.9 percent.
In September, the unemploy
ment rates decreased in 92 of 100
counties after it had increased in
47 counties in August.