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Guest Columnist Marilyn Taylor concludes her series on wellness in the workplace. THOMASVILLE Thursday, January 6,2010 10,000 land itans neadeil Copmudly B)od CIsicaige Now through Jan. 7 Drop off atThomaavle tab&RecD^ 120th Year - No. 38 50 Cents WWW.tvilletimes.com Mitchell prepared to lead city BY ELIOT DUKE Staff Writer Interim city manager Paul Mitchell knows ThomasviUe and is confident he can hold down the fort until a final reso lution on Kelly Graver is made. ThomasviUe City CouncU indefinitely suspended Graver with pay on Monday night fol lowing the city manager’s ar rest for two drug charges over the weekend, appointing Mitch- eU as interim whUe the legal process runs its course. WhUe MitcheU, a ThomasviUe na tive who has been serving as the city’s attorney for the past 20 years, has no plans on being city manager for long, he feels the relationships he has developed in the past two decades wUl provide stabUity among depart ment heads. “I’ve worked with aU the department heads and I know everybody.” MitcheU said. “No one is afraid that I’m in this thing for the long haul. I don’t need another job, but this is a very sticky situation. I’m a law yer and I’m pretty good with the gift of gab. I think that aU played into it.” MitcheU admits to having no training as a city manager but once a decision to suspend Crav- Mitchell er was made by council members, he became the logical choice to fiU in so the city covUd operate as close to normal as pos sible under the circum stances. “I’m going to be ex tremely busy,” saidMitch- eU. “I was extremely busy last Tuesday. When the city staff came back [Tues day morning] councU wanted something in place to where the staff woiUd know the sun’s going to come up tomorrow. I woiUdn’t even dream of being interim city manager except for the quality of our staff and our department heads. Over the past 20 years. I’ve developed a real good rapport with them and they handle 99 percent of aU the problems. I’m confident in them so that’s the only thing that wUl make it possible.” MitcheU, who also has a pri vate practice and is Denton’s town attorney, said no timetable has been set for just how long he wUl be interim city manager. He is hopeful the matter wUl be resolved sooner rather than later. “It’s a concern of everyone and it’s certainly a concern of Mr. Graver and his attorneys,” MitcheU said. “The coimcU is See MITCHELL, Page 3 IHOI*. ^/ILLE^- UC I Suspect sought in Ledford robbery BY ELIOT DUKE Staff Writer Police continue investi gating a break-in at Led ford High School where $14,000 from a holiday basketbaU tournament was stolen over the week end. Davidson Gounty Sher iff David Grice said de tectives are gathering facts and foUowing leads from Saturday’s break-in at the school, and Ledford Principal BiU Butts is of fering a $1,000 reward to anyone who has informa tion regarding the inves tigation. Ledford wrapped up its annual NewBridge Ghristmas Glassic, a tournament the school See ROBBERY, Page 3 14' TH Eye ON THE Ledford's Chelsea Freeman eyes the basket for two of her eight points Tuesday evening in a 58-14 thrashing of Northeast Guilford in the Mid- Piedmont Conference opener for both teams in Wallburg. See Story, Page 7. TIMES PHOTO/DAVID YEMM MLKWeek kicks off Sunday BY LISA WALL Editor It was a time of civU unrest. America was en gaged in an unpopiUar war, segregation was at its height and the color of one’s skins evoked feel ings of fear, anger and hate. The nation has come a long way since the Givil Rights Movement, but how weU do chUdren who wiU lead us in the future imderstand a time that helped shape the coxm- try’s future. This year’s annual Mar tin Luther King Jr. cel ebration wUl help bridge the gap from past to pres ent for youth and engage the entire community in King’s legacy with this year’s themC, “’The Great Initiative of Ghange,” Dr. George Jackson, executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Action Gommittee, says the committee has held the week-long cel ebration in ThomasviUe for the past 10 years to re mind residents of King’s legacy. “This holiday is for the entire nation to cel ebrate how far we have progressed as a people,” Jackson said. “It’s a re minder of what we can accomplish when we put aside our petty differ ences and embrace our nationhood. Martin Lu ther King Jr. was a great American hero and we shotdd aU take the time to celebrate his beloved community concept.” Participating in King celebrations since the in ception of the holiday in 1986, Jackson wanted to See MLK, Page 12 INDEX Unemployment rate climbs Weather 2 Business 4 Opinion 5 Obituaries 6 Sports 7 Comics 10 Classifieds 12 Today's Weather Partly cloudy, 45/27 94653 00235 BY ELIOT DUKE Staff Writer After months of relative stabU ity, Davidson Gounty’s unemployment rate took a turn in the wrong direction in November as more people joined the ranks of the unemployed. According to statistics released by the Employment Security Gommis- sion of North Garolina, the imemploy- ment rate in Davidson Gounty spiked to a four-month high of 11.5 percent in November thanks to a shrinking labor force and more job loss. Davidson Gounty’s labor force feU to its lowest total since AprU 1994, and the number of imemployed workers increased by 585 people in November, leading to the .8 percent increase in the vmemployment rate. “There’s the difference and that’s what shot the unemployment rate up,” ESG Spokesperson Larry Parker said. “Davidson Govmty has lost a lot from its labor force in recent years and the big question is where did aU these folks go?” One of the reasons why the number of unemployed people went up, Parker said, coiUd be that they were looking for holiday work and couldn’t find any. The number of people employed in Davidson Gounty also is down by 700 workers in November, and the labor force has decreased by nearly 4,000 people in the past year. Since January 2007, Davidson Gounty’s labor force is down by more than 5,000 workers. “Lots of things can lead to people leaving the labor force,” said Parker. “People move, retire or they lived in two-income household and have decid ed they can make it one just one. But that’s a fairly significant number.” In ThomasvUle, the unemployment rate rose from 10.2 to 10.9 percent in November, as the number of unem- See RATE, Page 3 COURTESY PHOTC Boosting Numbers Pat Hege of Thomlinson Hill Apartments in Thomasvilk deiivers 150 items collected by her and her neighbors ai the compiex.The food challenge concludes on Friday. NOW OPEN 1213 Lexington Avenne (located in the bnilding with Davidson Ear, Throat, aitd Sinus Center) ^ a 336-476-2444 DaVldSOn UROLOGY www.DavidsonUrology.org I® ThomasviUe, North Carolina • Your Town. Your Times.
The Thomasville Times (Thomasville, N.C.)
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Jan. 6, 2011, edition 1
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