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Jeff Davis photo
First in . . .
The new
Chatham Hospital opened its doors Monday morning, transferring
patients from the building across town to the one located on
Progress Drive. Above, hospital administrator Carol Straight stands
with Francis Mendenhall in her room after being transported by
FirstHealth Monday morning around 7am. Covered up directional signs
were undraped by Department of Transportation workers Monday
morning, showing motorists where the hospital is located at. In the
left photo, the new facility is pictured on Progress Drive in Siler
City.
Principals chosen to take
helm at Northwood, North Chatham
A Staff Report
The Chatham
County Board of Education on Monday approved new principals for
Northwood High School and North Chatham School.
Chris Blice,
who has served as principal of Louisburg High School since 2003, has
been hired to be the new principal of Northwood High School.
Charles
Aiken, currently the principal at Moncure School, will be the new
principal at North Chatham School. Aiken, however, will remain at
Moncure until his replacement is named.
Blice holds
undergraduate and graduate degrees in music. In addition, he earned
a Master of School Administration from East Carolina University.
Blice spent
17 years as an instrumental music educator before moving into school
administration in 1999.
Until Blice
is released from his current position with Franklin County Schools,
which is likely to occur in September, Carrie Little will remain
principal at Northwood. A district can hold an administrator up to
60 days before releasing him from a contract.
"We feel very
fortunate to have attracted a school leader with the success and
talent of Chris Blice, said Chatham County Schools superintendent
Robert Logan.
"He has
taught and been an administrator at the secondary level. The fact
that he has a background in the arts, specifically as a band
director, was an additional plus for him as a candidate as Northwood
is well-known for its arts programs," Logan said. "We are excited to
have him join our administrative staff and look forward to the work
he will do with the Northwood community."
Aiken came to
Chatham County Schools in December of 2006 after serving as an
elementary and middle school assistant principal in Wake County.
"Charles
possesses the leadership skills to help North Chatham continue on
its path of excellence," Logan commented. "The school system has
been impressed and appreciative of how he has helped Moncure grow
and succeed."
Logan said
Moncure School, likewise, will remain under good leadership when a
replacement for Aiken is selected.
"I want to reassure everyone
that, like other schools where we have made administrative changes,
we will carefully search and select the best candidate to lead
Moncure." said Logan.
more- See Thursday,
July 31,
2008 paper:
Vol 88, No.34
Jobless rate rises in county
By Randall Rigsbee
A growing
number of people without jobs in Chatham County is another sign of
difficult economic times, a trend observed across the state, say
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina (ESC) officials.
According to
the ESC’s latest unemployment data released Friday, Chatham County’s
jobless rate rose to 5.4 percent in June, an increase of 0.6 percent
from the May rate of 4.8 percent.
The county
rate has shown a steady increase throughout the year, beginning with
4.2 percent unemployment in January.
Dianne Reid,
president of the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation,
said the latest figures for Chatham County reflect the closure this
spring of the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry processing plant in Siler
City, which resulted in the lose of 830 jobs.
Reid said the
rising unemployment rate is "a concern, but I don’t think it’s time
to panic. Unemployment is always a concern."
In June,
Chatham County had a labor force 33,299 strong of which 31,501
people were employed and 1,798 were without jobs.
While it is
Chatham County’s highest rate in recent months and the highest rate
recorded this year, it remained lower than the rate of unemployment
in several neighboring counties, all of which saw rate increases
over the two-month period.
Alamance
County had a June unemployment rate of 6.6 percent (up 0.6 percent);
Durham, 5.1 percent (up 0.3 percent); Lee, 7.0 percent (up 0.4
percent); Moore, 6.0 percent (up 0.4 percent); Orange, 4.6 percent
(up 0.5 percent); Randolph, 6.4 percent (up 0.5 percent); and Wake,
4.8 percent (up 0.4 percent).
Unemployment
rates increased in 82 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in June.
Nine counties
experienced a rate decrease, and rates remained the same in nine
counties.
"The effect
of the national economy is being felt in all of North Carolina’s 100
counties," said ESC chairman Harry E. Payne Jr.
"While the number of counties
that had increasing rates is fewer than the previous month, we see
that the rising price of gasoline is having an impact on the labor
force," Payne said. "While our commission offices still receive job
orders from employers, the pace has dropped. Even during the busy
summer months, it appears employers have reduced hiring, making it a
much tighter job market."
more- See Thursday,
July 31,
2008 paper:
Vol 88, No.34
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Hospital makes
smooth move to new location
By Angela Delp
When Chatham
Hospital opened the doors to its new facility this week, Frances
Mendenhall was the first patient through them.
Mendenhall,
who has been in the hospital since Sunday, was transported by
ambulance from the old hospital at 7 a.m. Monday, July 28.
She was one
of nine patients to make the approximately four-mile journey from
the old hospital near downtown Siler City to the new hospital in the
Central Carolina Business Park off US 64 near Walmart.
In an
interview Monday, Mendenhall said she fiound her place in Chatham
Hospital’s history to be "shocking, exciting and surprising."
"I left the
old hospital around 7 a.m. this morning," she said Monday. "While I
was on my way here, the EMTs joked about all the prizes I was going
to win, since I was the first patient."
Mendenhall
may not have won any prizes but has experienced a moment of
celebrity since becoming the new hospital’s first patient.
On Sunday
evening, hospital staff approached her to see if she would be
willing to be interviewed following her transfer to the new
location.
"I had to
sign a release saying I was willing to be photographed," she said.
Mendenhall
said she was excited about being moved to the new facility, since
she had not previously visited the hospital’s new location.
"I had only
seen pictures of the new building in the newspaper, so I was excited
about getting to see it," she said. "The new facility is beautiful.
"My
experience here has been a pleasant one," she said.
While
Mendenhall was among the new hospital’s premiere group of patients,
many Chatham residents have gotten a look at the new facility.
Hospital
staff conducted guided tours of the new hospital on during an open
house celebration on July 20.
At the open
house, participants got a preview ofimprovements the new Chatham
Hospital has over the old facility, including an improved emergency
room, an imaging department which boasts a new 16-slice CT scanning
machine, two operating rooms, both of which are twice the size of
the old facility’s operating room, four intensive care unit rooms,
21 acute care rooms.
The rooms,
which are double in size from the patient rooms in the old hospital,
have a private bathroom and shower and will serve one patient.
The 25-bed facility occupies
a 30-acre site in the business park. The hospital will be used for
surgeries, sleep studies, orthopedics, radiology and critical care.
more- See Thursday,
July 31,
2008 paper:
Vol 88, No.34
Gas price
drops but few feel the savings
By John Hunter
Gas prices
decreased a bit at many stations this week, but many in Chatham
County have yet to feel the effects.
According to
the Energy Info Administration, the national average gas price per
gallon dropped nearly $.11 this week, and nearly $.16 from two weeks
ago.
Yet some feel
the price change is not significant enough to notice.
"You’re only
saving $3 on a 20 gallon tank," Kelly Douglas, owner of Douglas
Electric said. "It’s got to get below or around $2 before we can
even tell a difference."
Douglas said
that because of fuel costs his business had to cut back from using
four trucks to three, but said his monthly gas bill still hovers
around $1,700 monthly.
"When I was
running four trucks my gas bill was the same as it is running three
trucks now," he said
John Clark,
owner of Roberson Creek Landscaping in Pittsboro said he also hasn’t
felt the effects of a price drop.
"Last year it
was like $3.15. So the 10 or 15 cents…Every bit helps, but still,"
he said.
Clark said he
spends approximately $300 a week filling his equipment and vehicles
with gas.
Consumers are
not the only ones not feeling the effects.
Patrick
Thomas, an employee at Anna’s Quick Stop in Pittsboro, that despite
a drop in gas prices, people still are driving less "because of the
gas."
Automobile
sales have seemingly gone unfazed by the price drop as well. Sammie
Garris and Adam Wall, salesmen at Chevrolet of Pittsboro, said that
price drop has not been a factor in their sales.
"They’re
still asking for gas cards," Wall said. "Something cheap and good on
gas, that’s all they ever want."
Garris added,
"But usually people, if they want a car, they’re going to get a car
no matter what gas is."
"We haven’t
really seen a big tick in truck sales," said David Harris of Welford
Harris in Siler City. "But [the price drop] is giving everybody a
warm and fuzzy feeling."
However some
feel that the price change has not gone completely unnoticed.
Heather
Burnsfield, a cashier at C Mini Mart in Pittsboro, said she has
noticed a steady increase in customers since the initial price
decline two weeks ago.
more- See Thursday,
July 31,
2008 paper:
Vol 88, No.34
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