SATURDAY
December 31,2011
Roxboro,
North Carolina
Serving all of Person County since 1881
www.personcountylife.com
75 ’enfs
Couricr-®mejr
CHAMPS!
Rockets secure title
in annual Halifax
County, Va. holiday
tournament tA
TITLE TIME!
Person girls win 2
games to claim top
spot in holiday tour
ney at Halifax A6
WHITE HOUSE:
Person County
native visits White
House to attend fo
rumfor teachers B2
—mmi—
Dorothy Hunnicutt Clapp,
77
Burlingcon
Patricia Mangum Day, 65
Timherlake
Ann McNeil Hurley, 82
Roxboro
Dossie Lee Keatts, 68
Rougemont
Franklin Alonzo Lane, 81
Oxford
Sandra McCain, 47
Roxboro
Alice Cole Poole, 86
Timherlake
Evelyn Frances Dickerson
Shotwell, 93
Roxboro
Ronnie Dean Snead, 46
South Boston, Va.
Gabbie Linda Tippett,
Infant
Roxboro
Dorothy Weaver Wilson,
78
Roxboro
See page A9
AGENDA
A3
ARRESTS
B6
BOOKS
Bl
CLASSIEIED
B9-11
COMMENTARY
AS
COURT
B6
DO YOU KNOW
A2
EDUCATION
B2
EAITH & WORSHIP
B4-5
GREY MATTERS
A2
LEGAL NOTICES
BlO-11
LIEESTYLE
B8
MOST WANTED
A3
MOVIES
A2
OBITUARIES
A9
OPINION
A4
REALTY TRANSEERS
B6
SPOTLIGHT
B3
SPORTS
A6-8
TV LISTINGS
B7
Our
129th year
Number 103
Two sections
22 pages
Copyright
2011
The Courier-Times Inc.
I rights reserved
Area code change planned in April
After March 31,2012 those with
local calling to North Carolina
area code 919 will need to dial the
area code followed by the seven
digit telephone number when
making calls to the 919 area code,
due to the upcoming addition of
a new area code, according to a
CenturyLink press release.
To accommodate the growing
need for telephone numbers in
North Carolina, stated the re
lease, a new 984 area code will
be added to the area currently
served by the 919 area code.
In addition to those in the 336
area and others with local call
ing to the 919 area number, the
calling changes will also apply to
those in the 919/984 area.
Local calls to 336 numbers will
still only require the seven-digit
number to be dialed, and 911 will
remain accessible by dialing the
three digits.
The price of a call, local and
long-distance calling areas, and
other CenturyLink rates and ser
vices will not change as a result
of the area code overlay and dial
ing change. All current local calls
will remain local calls regardless
of the number of digits dialed.
Long-distance calls will re
quire the number one to be di
aled before the area code and
seven-digit number. Operator as
sisted calls will require zero to be
dialed before the area code and
seven-digit number.
According to the North Caroli
na Utilities Commission (NCUC)
Web site, customers seeking new
telephone numbers in the af
fected region may be assigned
the new 984 area code as early
as April 30, 2012. Those who cur
rently have a 919 area code will
not need to change their existing
phone number when the 984 area
code is introduced.
Specialized communications
equipment such as a PBX, elec
tronic telephone sets, auto-dial
systems or multi-line key systems
may need to be reprogrammed or
updated to use the new dialing
procedure.
Some automatically dialed
calls may require reprogram
ming to include the new dialing
procedure, using 10-digits. These
calls may include: life safety sys
tems, fax machines, internet dial
up numbers, alarm and security
systems, speed dialers, call for
warding settings, voicemail ser
vices and similar functions.
See}\V^t,Page 10
DA’s office reflects
on initial year
of new administration
Last week, the Office of Dis
trict Attorney Wallace Bradsh-
er issued a preliminary year-
end report to the heads of all
law enforcement agencies in
District 9-A, which includes
Person and Caswell counties.
The office also issued a press
release, which was prepared by
Hollie Young McAdams, the se
nior assistant district attorney
(ADA), LuAnn Wright Martin,
the chief Caswell County as
sistant district attorney and
Gayle Peed, the district’s ad
ministrative assistant and of
fice manager.
McAdams, Martin and Peed
were named to serve as the
transition team from the old
administration to the new ad
ministration last December
and were officially sworn in as
employees of the new admin
istration at midnight last New
Year’s Eve.
McAdams is a graduate of
Person High School, and previ
ously served as an ADA. Brad-
sher retained McAdams and
promoted her to senior ADA.
McAdams and Bradsher
tried most of the jury trials
in the district this year and
implemented a wide-range of
new policies to improve effi
ciency and the quality of pros
ecutions.
“Our focus this year was
to increase the quantity and
quality of Superior Court jury
trials,” McAdams wrote in a
press release. “We had 24 jury
trials this year. This more than
doubled the number of jury
trials done by the previous ad
ministration. Twenty of these
trials resulted in jury verdicts
and four pled guilty during the
course of the jury trial.
“Eighteen out of the 20 trials
that went to verdict resulted in
convictions,” McAdams added.
“Only two resulted in acquit
tals (a shoplifting charge in
Person County and an assault
on a female charge between
husband and wife in Caswell
County).”
McAdams went on to say,
“Recently we received our fis
cal year-end statistics that
ranked our district as first in
the state in felony dispositions
in superior court, with a me
dian case age at 78 days. The
combination of increasing the
number of our jury trials, im
proving our conviction rates
and keeping a federal pace on
case dispositions has improved
the quality of pleas we are
able to negotiate, which means
more criminals in jail or on
probation, which makes our
community safer.
In reflecting on the past
year, McAdams recalled a case
against Alfred Manga Bell, a
home invasion case where a
mother and daughter were the
victims of a home invasion and
See BRADSHER,/’ag'e 10
C-T office closed on Monday
The Courier-Times office will be closed Monday, Jan. 2 in obser
vance of the New Year’s Day holiday
The office will open for regular business hours on Tuesday,
Jan. 3, at 8 a.m. The C-T will observe a normal date of publica
tion on Wednesday, Jan. 4.
A boat!’
Madison Solomon’s
Christmas wish comes true
BY MIKE FLOYD
COURIER-TIMES STAEE WRITER
mikefloy[l@roxboro-courier.com
MIKE FLOYD I COURIER-TIMES
Madison Solomon, 3, and her 21-month-old brother, Cole, are full speed ahead for fun aboard Madi
son’s purple boat that docked Christmas morning at her home on Lucy Garrett Road.
Christmas, 2011 for the Dwight
and Jennifer Solomon family has
been extraordinary The primary
reason for that was their three-
year-old daughter Madison’s vo
cal wishing all year for Santa to
bring her a “purple boat.” It may
sound a little far-fetched to some,
but not to this precocious toddler.
“It all started months ago,”
explained Jennifer Solomon
on her front porch, Friday “I’d
asked Madison what she wanted
for Christmas and she said, ‘a
purple boat.’ I was just amazed
and asked why a purple boat but
she really didn’t have an explana
tion or reason why We still don’t.
We took to her see Santa twice
and her purple boat wish was an
swered with ‘Old Santa would see
what he could do.’”
Solomon continued, “We looked
all over, on-line, for a purple boat
for months. Our family, Facebook
friends were all looking, too, and
we still didn’t come up with any
thing. And then our heat went out
the week before Christmas, and a
man from Oakes Heating and Air,
Marvin Oakes, came over to fix
our unit.
.5/? CHRISTMAS, Page 10