Lumberton, N.C. Established 1870 www.robesonian.com Heartland Publications, LLC All Rights Reserved Tuesday January 3, 2012 Volume 142 No. 239 he obesonian Daily T R Sunday 50¢ $1 Ruling could spark online gambling Lots of questions unanswered Oskar Garcia within the industry over how to legalize Associated Press online gambling that once generated an “I don’t like estimated $6 billion yearly just from poker: LAS VEGAS — The fight to fully legalize Should each state have its own system, or this legal limbo. online gambling in the U.S. is now less about should there be a nationwide law? whether Americans will be able to play and While the opinion sent gambling stocks Is it legal, or is more about who will bring the action to rising, many players who’ve been shut out it illegal?” them — and when. from top online poker sites since April just A recent U.S. Justice Department opinion want games to restart and don’t care who opened the door for cash-strapped states and profits. — Brian Boyko, Associated Press their lotteries to bring online gambling to “I don’t like this legal limbo. Is it legal, or writer, poker hobbyist Players who’ve been shut out from top online poker sites their residents, as long as it does not involve is it illegal?” said writer Brian Boyko, who since April just want games to restart and don’t care sports betting. who profits. The DOJ memo also enflamed a battle See GAMBLING | 7A Pipeline project dicey for Obama Matthew Daly Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Congress are starting the election year locked in a tussle over a proposed 1,700-mile oil pipeline from Canada to Texas that will force the White House to make a politically risky choice between Associated Press two key Rachelle Friedman smiles June 30 after trying on her wedding dress in Raleigh. Below, Chapman uses a passive gait trainer that uses a harness and motorized parts to move Democratic her legs for her at Project Walk in Carlsbad, Calif. constituen- cies. Some unions say the Keystone Paralyzed bride continues XL pipe- Barack Obama line would create thousands of jobs. Environmentalists fear it her journey to walk again could lead to an oil spill disaster. A law Obama signed just before Christmas that Injured during bachlorette party temporarily extended the payroll tax cut included a Martha Waggoner original wedding date. Republican-written provi- Associated Press “You see people standing up out of their sion compelling him to wheelchair, people who are relearning how make a speedy decision on RALEIGH — A North Carolina woman to walk,” Chapman said in a recent phone whether to build the pipe- who got married last summer after a pool- interview. line. The administration is side accident left her paralyzed isn’t walk- It was on May 23, 2010, that Chapman warning it would rather say ing yet, but she hasn’t given up on learning was pushed into a pool by a friend at her no than rush a decision in to move on her own again. bachelorette party in Virginia Beach, Va. an election year. Rachelle Friedman Chapman is stron- She fell into the shallow end and awkwardly It’s a dicey proposition for ger after training for almost three weeks hit the cement bottom. The injury to her Obama, who enjoyed strong in October at Project Walk, a spinal cord vertebra left her with no feeling from the support from both organized injury recovery center in Carlsbad, Calif. chest down and feeling on the inside of her labor and environmentalists And the 26-year-old from Knightdale, near arms but not the outside. Her wedding had in his winning 2008 cam- Raleigh, hopes to return for more training been scheduled for a few weeks after the paign for the White House. that could help her walk for the first time since the accident just weeks before her See BRIDE | 7A See PIPELINE | 7A Romney leads going into tonight’s caucuses Kasie Hunt in advertising, Republican presi- 2012 GOP nominee. In each pre- than a third of all potential caucus- Phillip Elliott dential hopefuls made last-minute cinct caucus, voters will urge their goers said they could yet change Associated Press appeals to undecided GOP voters. friends and neighbors to support a their minds. A confident Mitt Romney, the preferred candidate. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former DES MOINES, Iowa — front-runner for the GOP nomina- The two who appeared most House Speaker Newt Gingrich Unpredictable to the end, many tion, told a rally Monday, “We’re likely to challenge Romney for and Minnesota Rep. Michele of Iowa’s GOP voters still hadn’t going to win this thing.” the Iowa victory were former Bachmann all trailed. Gingrich on settled on a favorite candidate just Whether he would pull that off Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum Monday went so far as to predict hours before they cast the first was far from clear. and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of his own defeat, and Paul said he ballots of the 2012 presidential Tonight, Republicans will gath- Texas. Most polls in recent days does not envision himself in the contest. er in living rooms, high school have put Romney and Paul atop White House. After weeks of face-to-face cam- gymnasiums and local libraries to the field in Iowa, with Santorum paigning and millions of dollars start the process of picking the in third and gaining ground. More See ROMNEY | 7A Mitt Romney WEATHER INDEX OBITUARIES SPORTS Classifieds . 6B Kenneth Leviner, 43, Pembroke Robbie Gibson, 82, St. Pauls Comics . 5B Betty Cunningham, 70, Fayetteville Editorial . 4A Melba Patterson, 82, Lumberton College football Nation . 3A Garron Hill, 61, Fairmont Agnes Richardson, Lumberton Oklahoma State, Sports . 1B Jesse Locklear, 82 Stanford settle Fiesta State . 2A Alex Lowery, Maxton World . 5A Irene Helsel, 91, Pembroke Bowl in overtime. Sara Barfield, 73, Orrum Richard Dawson, 57, Chadbourn Page 1B 49/28 Ella Robinson, 96 Page 6A Obituaries Archives News Sports Features www.robesonian.com 2A — The RobesoniAn, TuesdAy, JAnuARy 3, 2012 LOCAL/STATE www.robesonian.com Snow falls in western N.C. ASHEVILLE (AP) — Woman fights for property Snow is falling in western North Carolina as cold weather moves into the region. Says grandson forfeited what he didn’t own The National Weather Service issued a winter Thomasi McDonald that Blalock Street was part of weather warning today The News & Observer their legacy. “Daddy always told for higher elevations in us, we got enough land to give Avery, Buncombe, Graham, HOLLY SPRINGS (AP) — all his kids a lot,” Cofield said. Haywood, Jackson, Macon, When Gaybbrell Shereise Cofield Ernest Cofield gave the daugh- Madison, Mitchell, Swain, pleaded guilty last year to selling ter named after him a lot near Transylvania and Yancey crack cocaine, he agreed to let the intersection of Third Street counties. A winter weather the government take his grand- in the early 1960s. Ernestine and advisory was in effect for mother’s home as well as prop- her husband, Charlie, could not lower elevations and includ- erty that has been in the family afford a new home, so in 1964 ed parts of Burke, Caldwell, for generations. they paid $100 for an old house Henderson, McDowell, But Ernestine Ward Cofield on the other side of town, tore it Polk and Rutherford coun- says her grandson was in no down and hauled the materials ties. position to forfeit her property to Blalock Street. Up to 6 inches of snow to the government and is fighting “And that’s how we built a new was expected in the moun- the move in court. Cofield says home, with materials from the tains. Up to 3 inches of that until three federal marshals old house,” Cofield said. snow was expected in lower turned up on her front porch in Ernestine Cofield dropped out elevations. August, she had no idea that she of school after the eighth grade was the target of a federal law Chuck Liddy | News & Observer and worked for 31 years as a that allows the government to Ernestine Cofield is trying to keep property in Holly Springs, where she lives. Her grand- machine operator and house- seize the property and assets of son forfeited the property in a plea deal, but she says he did not own it. keeper at Cooper Tools in Apex. Crime Report drug dealers. West said. “They get their day In March, Holly Springs police When she retired, she made a “I just don’t understand why in court.” Detective Dan Gledhill delivered down payment on the land on FRom staff Reports they want to take my property. Gaybbrell Cofield and his a letter to Ernestine Cofield’s Sand Dune Way in the High n I’m 72 years old. I never sold girlfriend lived with his grand- home on Sand Dune Way say- Pocket neighborhood and put a Thefts drugs,” she said. “I really don’t mother at her house on Sand ing that a police informant had triple-wide mobile home on the LUMBERTON — want them to have my home. I Dune Way for nearly five years, made two undercover drug pur- property. Denisha Bell, of Shaeman need my home.” according to his sister, Stephanie chases on Jan. 7 and Feb. 3 “from Wake County property records Circle, reported on Gaybbrell Cofield, 34, was sen- Cofield. But Ernestine Cofield is the property that you own on indicate that Cofield’s homes and Sunday that someone took tenced last month to 22 years in adamant that her grandson never the dirt path that runs between lot on Blalock Street that the her 2000 Acura TL valued federal prison for what prosecu- had an interest in the property Blalock Street and Third Street,” government wants to take have at $4,500, according to a tors say was his role in distrib- and never gave her any money the location of the address listed a tax value of $107,604.