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Inside today
Calendar 2AClassified 4B
Comics 4B
Obituaries 5AOpinion 4APuzzles 4BSports 1B
TV Listings 3B
ON THE WEB: www.yourdailyjournal.com
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Vol. 78, No. 332
Material inside this edition is
© Richmond County Daily Journal.
Reproduction without expressed consent of the
Richmond County Daily Journal is prohibited.
Deaths
Laura Bailey, 90, Linden
Rev. Leroy Bass, 68, Laurel Hill
Obituaries can be found on Page 5A.
Daily JournalRichmond County
WEDNESDAY • December 2, 2009 Rockingham, N.C.
C M Y K
WEATHERCONTINUED ON PAGE 3A
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INSIDE NEWS, 6A
Obama makes his decision
INSIDE OPINION, 4A
Nutritionists should lighten up
WEATHERRain and wind. Winds ESE ar 15 to 25 mph.HIGH: 64LOW: 54
INSIDE SPORTS, 1B
Four Raiders make All-SEC soccer team
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SexoffendervisitedschoolPhilip D. BrownRichmond County Daily Journal
Richmond County Schools offi-cials confirmed they were unaware a man who visited the campus of Rohanen Middle School last month to solicit donations from students and faculty is registered as a sex offender in South Carolina.
A sex offender coming onto school grounds without notifying officials of his status is also a vio-lation of state law.
The offender, David Waters, is a co-founder of Water’s Edge Ministries. He visited Rohanen to share his experiences working as a missionary in the West African nation of Ghana. The program was featured in Friday’s Daily Journal.
His wife, Anita Tarlton, is a recently retired Richmond Senior High teacher who is also a co-founder of the ministry.
Rohanen teachers said she accompanied Waters when he spoke with the children on Nov. 18, then she returned on the following day to speak with stu-dents.
On the 19th, she was accom-panied by a man who identified himself as Sam Yates, and a repre-sentative of the Daily Journal was present to write an article about
BRYAN STEWART/DAILY JOURNAL
Youth from Outreach for Jesus performed a reen-actment of the Nativity Story (top photo) at the Hamlet Tree Lighting program on Monday night. Close to 100 peo-ple attended the official Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Hamlet.
Hamlet kicks off holiday seasonBryan StewartRichmond County Daily Journal
The glow of Christmas lights illu-minated Depot Park in downtown Hamlet as over 100 Hamlet residents, parents and city officials gathered for their 23rd Annual City of Hamlet Tree Lighting Monday night.
The tree lighting ceremony will act as the official start of the City of Hamlet’s Christmas season celebra-tion.
“It was wonderful,” Marchell Adams-David, Hamlet city manager said. “Everything went really well and the temperature was much bet-ter than last year.”
During the program, children and teens from King’s Gate Church dra-matized musical numbers for attend-ees and their parents who braved the chilly rain to see their children.
Outreach for Jesus mimed the
events around Jesus’ birth and the nativity scene during a reading of the Christmas tale by Councilman Tony Clewis.
Several youths from the church presented the live nativity scene.
Additionally, the crowd gath-ered around Charles Dickens-era Christmas carolers who led the audi-ence through a medley of traditional Christmas carols.
“We’ve got a full sleigh coming up over the next few weeks,” Adams-David said. “I just hope everyone comes out and enjoys the season.”
Horse drawn carriages pulled chil-dren and adults alike up and down Main Street Hamlet throughout the night as they took advantage of the once-a-year festivities.
According to one mother walking with her child, they were headed to the Main Street Cafe’ on Main Street
where, “all the action is”, after the tree lighting.
The tree lighting and other festivi-ties in downtown Hamlet on Monday night are just a teaser before Hamlet turns back the clock for their Old Fashioned Christmas which begins on Thursday night at the Hamlet Passenger Depot.
The Old Fashioned Christmas will last from Dec. 3 through Dec. 6 while the city decorates its historical buildings and downtown district.
Following the Old Fashioned Christmas from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Santa’s scheduled to arrive on a 1953 Farmall Tractor with his Christmas Fiddle at Hamlet Hardware on Dec. 11.
■ Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Finalpavingwill bedelayedEren TataragasiRichmond County Daily
Journal
With the cold weather mov-ing in and winter creeping in slowly, the Department of Transportation’s window of opportunity for paving a widened section of U.S. 1 is closing.
Around Dec. 15, the DOT will pack up its paving gear until the spring, but they’re not leaving things unfinished.
Gary Phillips, resident engi-neer for the U.S. 1 project stretching from Wiregrass Road into Rockingham city limits said the project is still 16 percent ahead of sched-ule.
He said paving will be put on hold but will pick back up in March. Phillips said most of the paving is done except for the final layer.
But until the spring, road crews will continue to work on concrete work like curb-ing and sidewalks, as well as drainage work, pipes, catch-basins, and some signal work at Wiregrass Road.
Phillips said they’ll be installing some new signal poles and some sign work.
“We’ll basically be doing the cosmetics this winter,” Phillips said.
And the four-lane stretch of U.S. 1 they’re working around Richmond Senior High was hopefully going to be opened up by Christmas, but the heavy rains during the last several months got them off schedule.
“Odds are they probably won’t split traffic until the spring,” Phillips said.
And while things may not be moving as quickly as motorists would like, Phillips said the project is still ahead of schedule and will likely be completed by it’s contract completion date of Aug. 15, 2010.
“We should definitely make that unless something really bad goes on,” Phillips said. ■ Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at [email protected].
Richmond chamber looking to honor citizenEren TataragasiRichmond County Daily Journal
For 27 years, the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce has named one person as the Citizen of the Year in recognition of their contribution to the community during the year, or over the course of their lives.
Last year’s winner was Hamlet Mayor Tom Smart, who was nominat-ed by County Commissioner chairman Kenneth Robinette.
Nominations for, what Chamber President Emily Tucker calls, the “coun-ty’s highest honor,” come from chamber members and the community who see these individuals in action, day in and day out.
The board of directors then selects the recipient in a secret ballot.
“The list of nominees is always well deserving and I am so glad that I do not have to choose,” Tucker said. “I know
my board will have a hard task at their monthly board meeting in December when they are asked to vote. It’s always a nice surprise to go out with the chamber’s “surprise patrol” and catch the winner, unaware, it’s like an early Christmas present from the chamber.”
The prestigious community service award is then presented to the recipi-ent at the Chamber’s Annual Banquet in 2010.
The recipient does not have to be a member of the chamber, however, the recipient must have shown “distin-guished and dedicated service beyond the scope of their regular work life, and their actions should enhance the quality of life for Richmond County,” Tucker said.
If this describes someone you know, stop by the Chamber to pick-up a nomi-nation form. The form can then be mailed or dropped off at the Chamber of
Commerce, 101 W. Broad Ave., P.O. Box 86, Rockingham, NC, 28380.
The deadline to submit a nomination is Dec. 11.
Other past citizens of the year include Dr. John Stevenson, Kenneth and Claudia Robinette, Bert Unger, Charles B. Deane Jr., William S. “Bill” Blackwell, Dr. William “Bill” L. Haltwanger Jr., Sam Brigman, Dr. Ralph Gandy, Abbie Covington, Russell Bennett, J.C. and Ruth Watkins, Jimmy Smith, J. Neal Cadieu, Jr., J. Richard Conder, G.R. Kindley, Dr. J. Stanley Vetter, Blondie Morse, Mary Holland Phillips, Dr. Doug James, R.W. Goodman, David W. Arial Jr., Dr. P.R. Rankin Jr., Mary Hadley Connor Leath, William L. Haltwanger Sr., and L.G. Dewitt.
■ Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at [email protected].
Eren TataragasiRichmond County Daily Journal
The National Weather Service is calling for severe weather for 31 counties in the central part of the state, including Richmond County, and county Emergency Management is watching condi-tions closely.
“We’ve been watching a little more carefully than we normally do,” said Frank McKay, director of emergency management.
Specifically for Richmond County, the National Weather Service predicts rain beginning this morning with a high near 63 and an east wind 11 to 16 mph. Winds could gust as high as 34 miles per hour and the chance of precipitation is 100 percent.
Showers and possibly a thunder-storm are possible before 2 a.m. with a low around 59 and winds around 18 mph and gusts as high