Rural Academy Theater Burgaw’s Rural Academy Theater will hit the road for its annual mountain tour this month. It is the third year for the tour. Read about it on page 1C.
Volume 43, No.50
Interviews continue for county manager
POST Voice The Pender-Topsail
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Thursday, September 11, 2014
From Staff Reports Both the Pender County Courthouse and the judicial annex are undergoing repairs, according to Pender County Clerk of Court Robert Kilroy. The main courthouse has work underway on the exterior windows, including painting and replacement of damaged wood. “We are taking all the storm windows off and cleaning everything and painting. We found quite a bit of deteriorated wood up there,” Kilroy said. The judicial annex is undergoing ceiling and roof repairs after damage from long-term leakage. “The roof collapsed in the annex. We had a chronic problem with the flat roof,” Kilroy said. “I’m also going to use the opportunity to make it look like a real courtroom.”
50 Cents
Waiting on the 20-day numbers
Taking an icy plunge
County school enrollment on the rise, officials say By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher The first enrollment figures for the new school year in Pender County show enrollment rising from last year. Enrollment on the ninth day of school shows 104 more students in the system than last year at the same time. Day 20 is the benchmark day the state uses to set enrollment and funding. Comparing this year to previous years, county schools have 334 more students on day nine than the system had on day 20 just two years ago. Pender School Superintendent Dr. Terri Cobb says enrollment continued to rise last year through day 20 and she expects the same for this year.
By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher
Courthouse gets needed repairs
All three Pender County high school teams will be on their home turf Friday. Read about Friday’s games in the football preview on page 2B.
The Media of Record for the People of Pender County
More applicants to consider after first round of interviews Pender County commissioners are taking their time looking for a new county manager. After an initial round of several interviews, the board is back looking at applications. “We didn’t want to rush into things. This has given us more time to talk among ourselves and maybe more clearly define what we are looking for in a manager,” said Pender County Commission Chairman David Williams. “Overall Pender citizens have been patient with us during this process. I think they would rather see us take our time and get it right.” Williams says the county has broadened it’s search process to include advertising in Virginia. “We will receive applications through the end of the month. I have received a couple of phone calls from applicants and one of them sounds very promising,” said Williams. “That’s not to say the ones we originally talked with are out of the running. We talked with some good people.” Williams says the Local Gover nment Commission, which the county is working with to clear up its audit problems, is on board with the manager search process. “The LGC agrees with the steps we are taking and our approach. I think they would rather see us take our time and get it right than to have a quick turnover if we get the wrong manager,” said Williams.
Home games this week
Superintendent Dr. Terri Cobb “Our enrollment traditionally continues to increase through the end of the school year,” Cobb said. “Obviously this is significant and something that we need to watch very carefully. At the end of last year, we had seven schools that exceeded their capacity.
School test results released By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher
Staff photos by Andy Pettigrew
Staff members at Pender Memorial Hospital douse PMH president Ruth Glaser (above) with ice water from bedpans during an ALS icebucket challenge last week. Glaser (left) anticipates the shock the instant the icy water hits her.
The State Board of Education released the 2013-2014 state standardized test results and graduation rates today. Pender County Schools increased overall test proficiency this year. The district outperformed the state in science, biology, English II, and the end-ofcourse composite results and also saw gains in graduation rates and ACT WorkKeys. The four-year graduation rate for Pender County increased to 88.3 percent, continuing the upward trend over the last several years, exceeding the state rate by five percentage points. “We feel very good about
where we are headed. We do have areas that we are going to focus on,” said Pender Superintendent Dr. Terri Cobb. “Overall it’s a good report but we also recognize there is a lot of data here and we have to drill down and look at the areas that we didn’t meet if we are going to continue our growth.” The state also gives the WorkKeys assessment to high school seniors who have taken a concentration of courses to prepare for a technical field. Students scoring well on the WorkKeys test receive an industry standard certificate used to gain employment. WorkKeys results improved at all three traditional high
Continued on page 2A
Commissioners ask legislators to bring back economic incentives By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher In a letter dated Sept. 3 to Governor Pat McCrory, Senator Phil Berger, and Representative Tom Tillis, Pender County Commissioners asked for reinstatement of economic development programs – specifically the film industry incentives. The letter requests a special session of the General Assembly to reinstate economic development programs. The letter says in part “The Pender County Board of Commissioners respectfully requests that a special session of the North Carolina General Assembly be called to reinstate the economic development programs that have served our state and region so well over the years. Failure to do so will have a serious impact on our current film industry as well as our ability to attract new businesses to our area.” Pender County Commission chairman David Williams says it’s more than just the loss of film incentives that are important to Pender County. “The films are important to the area, but it’s
More than just film incentives at stake not just that. Our concern is we need to be able to compete with other states that are trying to recruit the same industries we are,” Williams said. “We need to be as competitive as we can be to land these projects. Some folks don’t like any incentives at all, but like it or not, they are reality. They are part of getting businesses to relocate. We also have to keep the climate as healthy as possible for the businesses that we have so they don’t have to leave.” Williams says economic incentives are important to the region and cites the closing of several plants recently in the Wilmington area. “They are not in Pender County, but a lot of our people work in those plants. We are all in this together. When a plant closes in Wilmington, it effects us,” Williams said. “The types of incentives we think are important are results-based. We are not talking about
Continued on page 9A
Staff photo by Andy Pettigrew
Work crews paint and do repair work on the exterior windows of the historic Pender County Courthouse.
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