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©2001-2005 The Chatham News Publishing Co., Inc. - All Rights Reserved

 Siler City, North Carolina  (919)663-3232   

US Census notes growth in Hispanic population

By Joseph Pardington

For the first time ever, there are than 40 million Hispanics in the United States, according to a June 9 report by the U.S. Census Bureau based on July 1, 2004 census figures.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 41.3 million Hispanics of any race live in the United States. This figure is up from the 2000 estimate of 35.6 million Hispanics.

The Chatham County figures have not been released yet. The U.S. Census Bureau will release county figures later this summer.

The census report put the U.S. total population at 293.6 million, and it said the total population was not growing as fast as the Hispanic population.

 “Hispanics, who may be of any race, accounted for about one-half of the national growth of 2.9 million between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004. The Hispanic growth rate was more than three times that of the total population (one percent),” the report said.

Nationally, the total population has increased 4.1 percent since July 2000. The Hispanic or Latino population has jumped 16 percent in the same time frame.

Other census highlights were the figures according to age groups. About 61 percent of the Hispanics in the census were of working age, between 18 and 64. This compares to the national average of 63 percent. Only five percent of Hispanic adults were 65 and older, as compared to 15 percent of single-race non-Hispanic whites.

It is not clear how the age figures would break down in Chatham County and in Siler City.

Locally, the Town of Siler City has taken action to better serve its increasingly Spanish-speaking population. The proposed 2005-2006 budget calls for the hiring of a bilingual customer service representative in the finance department, to help collect payments for water and sewer services, among other duties.

This bilingual employee would work in an enlarged workspace that would allow business to flow more smoothly than before, said Siler City town manager Joel Brower.

Brower rejects the notion that the town provides special services for any segment of the population, Hispanic or otherwise.

“We provide all the same services to everybody – water, sewer, fire protection” – he said.

more- See Thursday, June 16 paper: Vol 85, No.27

Suspect arrested for shooting girlfriend in legs

By Joseph Pardington

The Siler City Police Department announced June 13 the arrest of Beatriz Duarte, alias Jose Guadalupe Castro Delgado, for shooting his girlfriend, Blanca Parra, who had been living at hotels in both Sanford and Siler City.

Delgado/Duarte is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, assault by strangulation, assault with serious bodily injury and assault on a female.

Delgado/Duarte is being held in the Chatham County Jail under a $100,000 secured bond.

A SCPD report details key developments in the case:

“On June 8, 2005, the Siler City Police Department received a call from Chatham Hospital in reference to a Hispanic female being brought into the emergency room with a gunshot wound to both legs.

“The Hispanic female stated her name was Blanca Parra. The only address for Parra was a couple of motels in Sanford, NC and Siler City, NC.

“Parra had numerous bruises on her head, face, arms and back from where the suspect had hit her. At first, Parra stated two black males and one white male who had picked her up in Sanford, NC had assaulted her. The suspects then shot her and dropped her out at a Hispanic store in Siler City. She was then picked up by a store patron and taken to Chatham Hospital.

more- See Thursday, June 16 paper: Vol 85, No.27

Woman pleads guilty in insurance case

By Joseph Pardington

Ellen Burns, 34 of Sophia pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and two counts attempting to obtain property by false pretenses, confirmed Siler City Police Department Major Bill Harman.

Burns was one of six people arrested in April by the SCPD in a joint effort with North Carolina Department of Insurance, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the Asheboro Police Department, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office and the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office.

The fraud ring, which involved staged car accidents sometimes between relatives and friends, is thought to total more than $2 million, according to Chrissy Pearson of the N.C. Dept. of Insurance.

Burns pleaded guilty in return for a reduced sentence of no more than eight months, said William McKinney, spokesperson for North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Burns was originally charged in April with two counts of conspiracy and three counts of attempting to obtain property by false pretenses.

Burns will be sentenced July 18^,  said court officials.

None of the other six original suspects has been to court yet, but Antonio Siler pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, McKinney said.

Reynaldo Dimas Colores, 401 N. Dogwood Ave., Apt A; Dorothy Maria Depaz of 1809 N. Chatham Ave., Siler City and Jose Anton Depaz of 4538 Walker Mill Road, Sophia, are scheduled to appear in Chatham County Superior Court June 16.

Frankie Alston of 133 Airport Road, Siler City and Gloria Alston, of 1418 Spring Ave., Siler City are scheduled to appear in Chatham County Superior Court on July 18. Frankie Alston also faces charges as a habitual felon.

“It’s still under investigation,” McKinney said of the ongoing fraud case that could involve as many as 100 people.

“We are still working on it.”

more- See Thursday, June 16 paper: Vol 85, No.27

Fly away home

Group release bald eagle at Jordan Lake after weeks of rehab

By Randall Rigsbee

The world can be brutal and unforgiving, especially for a wild animal.

But one such creature – a young  bald eagle that, while uninjured, had left its nest too soon and was unable to function properly on its own – found mercy in the wild thanks to the attention of Army Corps of Engineers staffers and the Charlotte-based Carolina Raptor Center, which specializes in rehabilitating injured and orphaned birds of prey.

After three weeks of rehabilitation at the Carolina Raptor Center, the eagle, discovered last month along a roadside unable to fly, was released into the wild on Wednesday, June 8.

The young bird could have easily suffered a less triumphant fate.

Discovered about a month ago by a resident in northeastern Chatham County, the fledgling eagle could barely fly.

“It didn’t have any injuries,” said Carol Banitis, an Army Corps of Engineers forester at Jordan and Falls lakes. “It was just a matter of the bird getting stronger and its feathers developing a little more.”

Banitis was familiar with the Raptor Center and their work and she and others consulted eagle experts, who advised them to observe the bird and see if it could fly on its own.

The next day, the eagle was still “hanging down on the road,” Banitis said.

They determined the bird –believed to be female because of its larger size - needed help and they called in a raptor specialist who captured the eagle.

On May 18, the bald eagle was on its way to the Carolina Raptor Center, where it was checked by rehabilitators for parasites and potential lead and mercury contamination and given a clean bill of health.

more- See Thursday, June 16 paper: Vol 85, No.27

The Chatham News

is Published Every Thursday by The Chatham News Publishing Co, Inc at

303 West Raleigh Street, Siler City, NC 27344, (919)663-3232

Alan D. Resch Editor-Publisher

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