Dogs, Inmates Get Second Chance Nakina Nellie Mae Smith by JEFFERSON WEAVER the Statewide Program When It Started in 2004
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r4UBMMJPOTUSJQ(BUPSTJOPWFSUJNF r8BSSJPSTRVBETTXFFQ"OUJPDI$ISJTUJBO r&$)4HJSMTSPMMUPXJO Sports 4FFQBHF# ThePublished News since 1890 every Monday and Tursday forReporter the County of Columbus and her people. Tursday, January 19, 2012 Lake post County general ofce safe Volume 121, Number 58 fund exceeds Whiteville, North Carolina from closing $28 million 75 Cents By JEFFERSON WEAVER Staff Writer By NICOLE CARTRETTE Staff Writer Inside Today Lake Waccamaw postal pa- trons won’t have to go to Halls- The county’s general fund at $28.1 million 4-A boro in the near future to mail has doubled since 2007, according to the coun- r.JDIBFM-BOF a letter. ty’s audit presented by CPA Alan Thompson U.S. Representative Mike Tuesday. #VѥJOGBDFTNPSF McIntyre announced Tuesday The county’s unassigned fund balance or DIBSHFT that the Lake Waccamaw Post savings not obligated to any future expenses is Office has been removed from more than $18.8 million or about 36.5 percent the closure list by the United of the general fund expenses. States Postal Service (USPS). That is a significant increase in comparison Next Issue Plans originally called for to 2007 when the county’s savings was below the Lake office to be combined $3.5 million and made up just 6.22 percent of with the Hallsboro Post Office. the general fund. After the USPS received hun- The county’s savings has increased steadily dreds of cards, letters, emails over the last five years and Thompson told and phone calls about the commissioners it was no accident. potential closure, the sugges- “In 2007, we as a county had a problem,” tion was withdrawn Tuesday, Thompson reminded commissioners. While according to McIntyre. the Local Government Commission somewhat “This is a great victory for mandates savings equal to at least 8.33 percent the residents of Lake Wac- of the expenditures, the county’s was danger- camaw,” McIntyre said. “The ously low at 6.22 percent. Lake Waccamaw Post Office is The county’s solid waste fund is being an essential component in day- subsidized by the general fund, there are Monday’s to-day living and in business cash flow issues in some water funds, and American Profle operations, and its removal the Department of Aging financials show a features “No Two from the USPS closure list decline in revenues, leaving the department reinforces that. I have been with a negative fund balance as noted earlier Are Alike,” How a honored to work with Mayor in the year, but overall, the county’s financial Vermont farmer dis- Ivan Wilson, and he is to be picture looks healthy. commended for his leadership, Thompson said a decline in spending con- covered the unique and the entire Lake Waccamaw tributed to the current financial position and beauty of snowfakes. community is to be applauded puts the county ahead of similar-sized coun- for their efforts to keep this ties in the state. DIDYOB? facility open. Indeed, this is “In 2007 you were below the group weighted a gold star day for Lake Wac- Staff photo by Mark Gilchrist average and now you are above the group Did you observe ... weighted average,” Thompson said. “That’s See Post office, page 7-A MLK march See General fund, page 7-A Brennan Ivey almost Several dozen people participated in the oldest march in the county speechless when his celebrating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, walking from Uncle Ricky told him by the First Baptist Church in Chadbourn, through downtown and back to long-distance speaker Christian the church. County board phone that he had front row seats for him man marks adopts revised at the Duke-Virginia his 100th Tech game? ... Danica Lake Waccamaw woman district maps Honeycutt’s “New Guy” birthday By NICOLE CARTRETTE music video on Youtube Staff Writer n is head of national group hitting almost 7,000 Delco resident, native of Freeman community, Adam Mitchell has worked on more than views by yesterday af- hit milestone Sunday. By RAY WYCHE house in Al- 100 redistricting plans, shifting lines and ternoon? ... Trey Nealey Staff Writer e x a n d r i a , analyzing population figures with the use of of Whiteville and a By BOB HIGH Va., owned census blocks but he told Columbus County Staff Writer A Lake Waccamaw resident who by the as- Commissioners Tuesday he has not seen student at Campbell is a rural mail carrier out of the At- s o c i a t i o n anything like the census blocks in Columbus University, on “Ameri- His son, several nieces, and kinson post office has been elected na- a n d s a y s County. can Idol” Wednesday several friends were at Roley tional president of the 106,000-mem- she tries to Typically, census lines run along visible ber National Rural Letter Carriers’ r e t u r n t o night? He tried out for a W a l l a c e ’ s boundaries such as rivers, roads and even Delco home Association (NRLCA). her home at property lines but that is not the case in many spot in Charleston and early Sunday Jeanette Pierce Dwyer, the first Lake Wacca- instances across the county. pretended to be angry to help him woman ever elected to the post, is maw at least When county officials in the elections of- with the cameraman m a r k h i s presently engaged in the contract ne- once each fice started geo-coding the new district maps 100th birth- gotiations with the U.S. Postal Service month. adopted in November, they discovered houses when he got cut. ... day. on behalf of the membership of the Jeanette Dwyer Dwyer is divided across several districts. Wallace, association. She had served as na- the wife of Mitchell said he initially told Columbus who is blind, tional vice president of the rural mail Larry Dwyer and is the daughter of County Board of Elections Director Carla but manages carriers’ group for three years and the late William T. “Bill” and Gladys Strickland that it “wasn’t possible” for houses County Deaths to get around Wallace was elected to the association’s top Watts Pierce who lived on the Dupree or properties to be divided but he soon learned his clean, neat home quite well, position last August at the NRLCA Landing Road southeast of Hallsboro. it was the case. Whiteville said he owed his long life to national convention in Savannah, Ga. Dwyer has one son, Andy, and one “There are census block lines in Columbus Berneese McPherson Gore “the good Lord.” She served for six years on the grandson. County that are essentially imaginary lines. organization’s executive committee. Willie Ray Jabber He’s obviously been eating See Dwyer, page 3-A They are not streets, not rivers, not anything,” Sandra Peterson Chapman She is currently residing in a town- See 100 years, page 6-A See Maps, page 9-A Clarendon Wilbur Ray Holden Tabor City Dennis L. Vereen Dogs, inmates get second chance Nakina Nellie Mae Smith By JEFFERSON WEAVER the statewide program when it started in 2004. Staff Writer Bladen County had no humane society at the Edwin Stanley time, and Lambert and other volunteers brought of Whiteville, a Index Phoenix was chained to a tree. dogs from Columbus County to the White Lake volunteer with Izzy’s owner has a chronic illness, and was told unit to be socialized and trained. the Cape Fear &EJUPSJBMT" he could no longer have a dog. The program isn’t a make-work detail, but a 0CJUVBSJFT" Rescue League, Stout was abandoned at a place where dogs reward for exceptional prisoners, Chavis said. helps Izzy work Only inmates who have good records in prison, 4QPSUT# go to play. off some excess with no infractions or violations, may apply for $SJNF" The three dogs moved to their newest tempo- energy before the program. They must have at least a sixth rary home Tuesday – the Bladen Correctional the dog is turned -JWJOH$ grade reading level, and complete the interview Center, where they will be trained, fed, bathed, over to her new socialized, and loved by a group of inmates with process before being chosen. Competition is high for the program, Chavis trainer at the their own hard stories to tell. Bladen Correc- Randy Chavis is the coordinator for the New said, and it’s a big incentive for the participants to further improve themselves while incarcerated. tional Facility. Leash on Life program at White Lake. The three Izzy was given dogs are the latest to join the eight-week program “They receive credit for participating,” he to Columbus since Pat Lambert of Columbus County began said, “and it has encouraged some of them to County Animal working with the prison system. improve their reading levels as well. We see a Control when “This makes an incredible difference for both change in everyone who participates.” her owner could the dogs and the men,” Chavis said. Each dog has a primary trainer, Chavis said, Bladen Correctional was the pilot location for no longer care See Second chance, page 2-A for her. 2-A – The News Reporter, Thursday, January 19, 2012 County, DREAM Center give back $50,000 in grants nHomebuyer hopefuls said, pointing out her agency had no extra funds to was not alone in struggling to benefit from grant match. find eligible participants. She said her counterparts By NICOLE CARTRETTE across the state were experi- Staff Writer encing the same challenge. No funds had been used De-obligate.