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Bill Wilcox
Bio-refinery improvements...
Lyle
Estill of Piedmont Biofuels stands next to a new bio-refinery that
is increasing efficiency and reducing waste at the biodiesel plant
in Pittsboro.
Revaluation on
hold as county economy slows
By Randall Rigsbee
The national
economic crisis is having a stinging affect on the local economy,
too, prompting Chatham County government officials to take action
Monday, including postponing for one year the county’s next property
revaluation.
Commissioners
also announced that construction bids for the new joint Pittsboro
library and classrooms at Central Carolina Community College will be
temporarily delayed for 30 days due to the current unavailability of
credit nationwide.
Commissioners
unanimously voted to delay the next property revaluation by one
year. Doing so means the county will lose some tax revenue though it
won’t be a "major hit," said assistant county manager Renee Paschal.
Chatham
County is on a four-year revaluation cycle.
Commissioners
unanimously agreed to postpone the next revaluation because of the
volatility of current real estate values.
"There are
some things that are troubling in the local economy. Obviously there
are things that are troubling in the national economy," said
assistant county manager Renee Dickson, who reviewed a number of
economic indicators with commissioners including significant
declines in deed stamp collections and building permits over the
past four to five quarters.
"This
reflects the overall decline in the housing market locally, which is
reflective of a national trend," Paschal said.
Deed stamp collections have
decreased 16 percent in Fiscal Year 2008 from the previous fiscal
year, Paschal said. Deed stamp collections have decreased 33 percent
in the third quarter of 2008 from 2007, she said.
more- See Thursday, October 9,
2008 paper
Police eye
substation at hospital
By Milburn Gibbs
Siler City
Police Chief Gary Tyson and town attorney William Morgan presented a
plan to the Siler City Board of Commissioners on Monday, requesting
a Police Satellite Substation be located at the new Chatham
Hospital.
Chatham
Hospital CEO Carol Straight had approved the substation plan after
Wal-Mart headquarters had rejected the idea that a substation be
located inside the Siler City Wal-Mart.
"Wal-Mart had
455 calls for assistance last year," Tyson said. "They had by far
the most calls to police."
Morgan said
the substation would be on a one-year renewal basis. Either party
can cancel the agreement.
Tyson said he knew that
police could not stop rape, murder and assault, but the chief said
the department could lower property crimes. He believed the
substation would help reduce those crimes.
more- See Thursday, October 9,
2008 paper
Schools may
delay projects
By John Hunter
Because of
the economic status of the country, Chatham County schools were
advised to place all future capitol outlay projects on hold on
Monday,
Deb McManus,
the Board of Education liaison to the County Commissioners, said
that the Board would be allowed to continue to plan projects, but no
actions can be taken at this time.
All current
projects will be allowed to continue however.
McManus said
that the schools were not singled out.
"The county is taking some
actions too," McManus said.
more- See Thursday, October 9,
2008 paper
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Life, no
parole
Housekeeper
pleads guilty to killing two elderly women last December
By Randall Rigsbee
Barbara
Clark, the former housekeeper charged with the December 2007 murders
of Galloway Ridge residents Margaret Murta, 92, and Mary Corcoran,
82, pleaded guilty to the crimes in a Chatham County courtroom on
Monday.
Clark,
represented in court by Public Defender James Williams, pleaded
guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.
On Monday
afternoon, she was sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences
without parole.
In addition,
the defendant received 13 to 16 years for assaulting a third
Galloway Ridge resident with intent to kill. For an unrelated case
in which Clark stole approximately $12,500, Clark pleaded guilty to
one count of obtaining property by false pretence.
By pleading
guilty, Clark avoided the death penalty.
Barbara
Turentine Clark, 41, of Toomer Loop in Pittsboro, was charged last
December with two counts of murder for the Wednesday, Dec. 5 attacks
at Galloway Ridge at Fearrington off US 15-501.
Clark worked
as a housekeeper for both Corcoran and Murta for almost a year.
She met with
the two women on December 5 of last year to discuss financial
matters. The two elderly women suspected Clark had been forging
checks and stealing from them but wanted to give her an opportunity
to explain her actions and speak up for herself, law enforcement
investigators said soon after.
Clark beat
and injured both women, as well as their neighbor, Rebecca Fisher,
77.
All three
women had to be transported to UNC Hospital for intensive care.
Murta died on the same day and Corcoran died a few days later, on
Saturday, December 8. Fisher survived the attack and was released
from the hospital after several weeks of treatment.
District
Attorney Jim Woodall and Assistant District Attorney Kayley Taber
had earlier this year filed an order seeking the death penalty for
Clark.
At the time, Taber and
Woodall said that a number of aggravating facts and circumstances
made it clear Clark’s case should be tried as a capital offense
case. Only one "aggravating factor" is required by law.
In March,
Clark’s attorney tried to have her committed to a mental hospital
for treatment, a request which was rejected by a judge.
In court
Monday, Judge Howard Manning sentenced Clark to life in prison
without parole for the two murders, and 145 to 183 months in prison
for the assault.
Manning also
ordered her to pay approximately $11,000 in restitution to a Chatham
County couple in a fraud case from September 2007.
Manning
commented that the case is one of the worst he’s seen during his
40-year career practicing law.
After the December attacks,
Clark first told investigators she had gone to the retirement
community to help Murta and Corcoran pick up a Christmas tree and
that while there she saw a black man assaulting the women.
more- See Thursday,
October 9,
2008 paper
Station owners
await return
of fuel supplies
By John Hunter
On Thursday,
October 2, Governor Mike Easley announced that the pipeline in the
Gulf Coast has been running at full capacity since last Tuesday.
"That full
capacity will arrive in North Carolina next week," Easley said in
his statement.
Benjamin Diro,
owner of Jim’s Cash-Mart in Goldston, said that he his station has
already felt the effects.
"Last week I
ran out three or four times," Diro said. "I called the gas
companies, but they said they had no gas."
"But this
week has been fine. I’ve had no trouble this week," Diro said.
However, not
all gas station owners have been as lucky as Diro.
"I thought it
was going to get better this weekend, but it didn’t," George Cooper
of Cooper Brothers General Store in Pittsboro said.
Cooper said
on Monday that the station was out of super and mid-grade, but did
have regular and had more coming later, though he did not know when.
Mallika
Patel, owner of C Mart in Pittsboro, said that she too has yet to
feel any change in the supply.
"I was out
for the entire weekend. I was out Friday evening and Saturday and
Sunday," Patel said.
"They’ve been
saying, ‘Oh, it should be normal,’ but I’ve seen a lot of gas
stations out of gas," Patel said.
Patel said
that because so many stations are without fuel, that when a station
does get a supply, it is gone quickly because of consumer demand.
more- See Thursday, October 9,
2008 paper
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