r(BUPSTFEHF3FE4QSJOHTJO53$5PVSOBNFOUTFNJTr-BEZ1BDLTPDDFSUFBN EPXOT4PVUI#SVOTXJDLJODPOGFSFODFêOBMFr-BEZ(BUPSTSVOUPUITUSBJHIU WJDUPSZJOUPVSOFZTFNJêOBMTr-BEZ7JLJOHTEFGFBU'BJSNPOUJOѮSFF3JWFST 5PVSOBNFOUUPHBJOTUBUF"QMBZPĒCFSUIr5XP&$)4BUIMFUFTTJHOXJUIDPM Sports MFHFT4FFQBHF# ThePublished News since 1890 every Monday and Tursday forReporter the County of Columbus and her people. Monday, May 9, 2011 Jury hearing pleas to spare murderer’s life Volume 114, Number 87 nVerdict Thursday finds Danny L. Thomas The state opened the sentenc- Thomas, then 18, grabbed the pistol as he fought Whiteville, North Carolina guilty of four murders here in 2005. ing phase of the trial Friday with with Donnelly outside the dean’s school office after New York City Police Detective the officer pulled Thomas out of a fight among 30 By BOB HIGH Terrence Donnelly telling how kids in the school lunchroom. 50 Cents Staff Writer Thomas grabbed the policeman’s Thomas was charged with attempted first-degree revolver and tried to kill him murder, but pleaded to illegal possession of a fire- More pleas by members of Danny Lamont in an incident at Thomas’ high arm, and served nine years in a New York prison. Inside Today Thomas’ family to spare his life are scheduled today school in 1990. Durham murder (Monday) in his capital murder trial after the jury Stopped trigger The state also introduced a certified copy of 4-A declared a guilty verdict in four 2005 murders here Donnelly, then a uniformed Thomas’ conviction in Durham County in 2009 of r1FEFTUSJBOLJMMFE Thursday following about two hours and 20 minutes Thomas police officer, described how he first-degree murder, a crime for which he is serving of deliberation. managed to put one of his fingers life. The Durham murder was in July 2005, a month TPVUIPG$IBECPVSO Three of Thomas’ cousins and an aunt testified inside the trigger guard and stop the pistol from fir- before he fled to the Chadbourn area and began seek- r$PYJOEJDUFE Friday about his living conditions as he grew up in ing as Thomas had it to the back of his head during ing drug dealers to rob, murder and maim. Chadbourn and New York City, plus the absence of a struggle inside the school. Thomas has been under constant guard during the r/FX.D%POBMET a father figure in the home along Grist Road, west “I felt pressure on my finger as he tried to pull the IFSFSPCCFE of Chadbourn. trigger,” Donnelly stated. See Jury hears pleas, page 4-A Inside Today Of-duty deputy kills No merger fox, saves girl of schools nTwo rabies cases in one day here. unless state By JEFFERSON WEAVER Staff Writer mandates it A schoolgirl was bitten last nCounty and Whiteville boards of week by a fox that was later di- education tell commissioners it’s too Today’s agnosed with rabies, according expensive, would harm communities American Profle to officials. The fox was killed and remove rivalries. by an off-duty sheriff ’s deputy. features “Wagons, Rossie Hayes of Columbus By BOB HIGH County Animal Control said Ho!” – On the Trail Staff Writer the girl, who is 10, was waiting of Pioneer History for the school bus when the A merger of the Columbus County and fox attacked her. She fled to and Adventure. Whiteville school systems will come only if her home, Hayes said, and ran the state mandates it, board members of both inside with the fox in pursuit. units told county commissioners Thursday DIDYOB? “The girl’s mother grabbed night. Voluntary action by each system will Did you observe ... See Rabid fox, page 3-A not happen. Chandler Turston “In my 30 years in the education system I can count on one hand the people who support running a marathon a merger. If you had a poor system and a good in Tennessee? ... WHS Canine ofcer one to bring the other one up, I could see it, but seniors in a mad dash on hold in we have two good systems,” Commissioner to fnish their senior Staff photo by Mark Gilchrist See Merger, page 2-A graduation projects? Chadbourn Te students will make Centennial fun their presentations this By JEFFERSON WEAVER Lake Waccamaw police offcer Adam Sellers tosses a bean bag as team- Staff Writer week. ... Area eateries mate Barbara Moss waits her turn during a cornhole tournament during County may the Lake Waccamaw centennial celebration at Elizabeth Brinkley Park. full Sunday as folks cel- Chadbourn has qualified ebrated Mother’s Day? for a state grant to provide a buy transfer canine officer to town police ... WHS baseball player – but the council wants more Weather cooperating with farming Frank Ciamillo using time to consider participating By RAY WYCHE miles northwest of Whiteville totaled station his skills to break a pi- in the program. Staff Writer 3.75 inches, about average for the Chadbourn Police Chief month, according to records kept at By NICOLE CARTRETTE ñata in Spanish teacher Stephen Shaw told the board Will Dorn’s class for Despite widespread destruction the station since 1954. Staff Writer Tuesday that the town has and deaths caused by recent torna- The average April precipitation Cinco de Mayo? ... qualified for a Governor’s does in areas near Columbus County, at the station is 3.07 inches, and the A three-sided metal building with a con- Crime Commission grant to local farmers report no damages to heaviest April rainfall totals came in crete floor and tin roof is once again at the provide most of the funding for their crops from last month’s storms. 1973 when 6.95 inches fell. forefront of county solid waste discussions. training a canine officer and The biggest weather-related prob- The lightest monthly total rain Last week in a 5-2 vote, the Columbus County Deaths purchasing a police dog. lem was a slight delay in farmers be- came in 1976 when only 0.13 inches County Board of Commissioners asked the The town would be required ing able to finish their spring plowing was recorded. county attorney to draft a letter of intent to Whiteville to match the state’s $13,042 and planting, according to Extension No below-freezing temperatures purchase the building located at the county- Magnolia Garrell Sasser contribution with $3,260 for the Service Agent Michael Shaw. were recorded last month. The sta- owned and now closed New Hope landfill from Chadbourn first year, plus roughly $1,000 “The rain slowed things down tion has records of temperatures of Waste Management. Pearl Parker M. McDowell for a kennel. After the first somewhat and we had a little hail below 32 degrees in April in 31 years The building is used as a location to collect year, Shaw said, the dog will and load trash from across the county onto Dewey Delane Cartrette but it didn’t cause any problems,” since 1954. cost around $1,500 to maintain. Shaw said. The average low temperature in larger trucks that haul the refuse to a Sampson Johnnie Lee Jenkins The state grant is not for April’s rainfall at the Border Belt April was 50.94 degrees and the aver- County landfill. Leavy Vereen age high was 76.27 degrees. See Canine, page 3-A Tobacco Research Station seven See Transfer station, page 2-A Tabor City Ethel Johnson Bolton Hallsboro woman: Teatus Anderson Green Nakina Norma Faye Watts ‘Tey said I had less than a year to live’ By RAY WYCHE he could not perform the operation Staff Writer “He said I was too big a risk.” Index Thanks to the Wilmington cardiologist’s knowledge &EJUPSJBMT" Faye Crawford Howard says the cardiologist was of a new procedure that proved to be a life-saver for How- 0CJUVBSJFT" forthright. ard, she became the second person in North Carolina 4QPSUT# There was no “I hope I’m wrong, but ... .” Or, “I hate to have a new valve placed in her heart via her femoral $SJNF" to have to tell you this, but … .” artery. The new procedure avoids the extensive surgical -JGFTUZMFT" The cardiologist at New Hanover Medical Center opening of the chest and the always risky open heart in Wilmington, where Howard had undergone triple surgery. heart bypass surgery in 2007, after exhaustive tests The new surgery involves working through a small three years later was told she was suffering from aortic opening in the groin to reach the artery. stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of her heart’s aortic The surgeons told her that prior to the surgery, blood valve. The result was that her organs and muscles were flow through her aortic valve “was just a trickle.” Once not receiving a sufficient amount of oxygenated blood the new valve began working, the blood gushed through to properly function. the valve, as it was meant to do. The cardiologists’ prognosis: “They told me I had The advanced cardiac surgical procedure required less than a year to live.” three hours and is done in North Carolina only at Wake Aortic valves are routinely replaced surgically when Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston- they become defective but the surgeon told Howard that See Heart, page 9-A Faye Howard 2-A – The News Reporter, Monday, May 9, 2011 This week, on... Merger Continued from page 1-A James Prevatte stated. who misbehave, but we don’t “It happened in Robeson have giant problems,” Pre- County. They consolidated vatte offered. seven units into one, and it Monte Herring, a county tore the county completely Boards discuss charter board member, said he agreed May 9, 2011 apart for a number of years,” with Flowers. “It’s all about Prevatte said. the children. There’s more Political suicide apprehension about this bud- Whiteville.com schools, capital outlay “It’ll eventually happen get – people losing jobs, class Reader and I’m confident we can nCounty, city school Schools’ Chairman Carlton schools.