Thursday, April 14, 2011 | 50¢
This hand crank machine is one of several for sale at Jack’s Grocery on Bringle Ferry Road for smokers who opt for making their own. Customers looking for a cheaper alternative are using the machines and tobacco to make their own cigarettes.
Roll your own More try making their own cigarettes as taxes cause hefty price hikes ALISBURY — With the items he carried to the counter — the bag of pipe tobacco and boxes of cigarette tubes — Harold Mills paid about $30. Mills figured he could make two cartons of cigarettes from his supplies. Using his cigarette-producing machine at home, which ejects cigarettes one by one, “I can make a carton in less than an hour-and-ahalf,” he said. Shane Allman, who helps his
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MARK WINEKA
mother run the Tobacco Discount store on South Main Street, did some quick math for Mills. Two cartons of Winston cigarettes would run Mills about $80 a week. Over a year, he would be spending $4,160 on the name brand. By making his own cigarettes, Mills is spending $2,600 a year. He’s saving roughly $1,560 annually, Allman said. Tobacco Discount and stores across Rowan County are becoming
part of a quiet revolution among smokers who are tired of constantly being the target of higher prices, often fueled by increased taxes. More and more smokers are making their own. “We used to be a carton store,” Allman said. “Now we’re a rollyour-own store.” The federal cigarette tax is $1.01
See CIGARETTES, 3A
MAKING IT ECO-FRIENDLY
JoN C. lAKey/SALISBURY POST
One DA may handle Rowan, Cabarrus State budget would combine duties into one position like ’90s BY SHELLEY SMITH ssmith@salisburypost.com
emily ford/SALISBURY POST
Heather St. Aubin-Stout furnished the eco-friendly rental at 206 E. Fisher St. with organic linens.
Recycled, repurposed items fill rental unit BY EMILY FORD
Heather St. Aubin-Stout and husband, Gray Stout, transformed his former downtown office into an upscale urban rental unit.
eford@salisburypost.com
ALISBURY — If Mother Earth visited Salisbury, she would stay at Alta. With an eye on the resurgence in the popularity of environmentalism, Heather St. Aubin-Stout and Gray Stout have turned Gray’s former architecture office into an upscale, eco-friendly rental. The Stouts created Alta, which means “high,” for tourists and travelers who want a unique place to stay for a weekend or a month. But Heather suspects the spacious rental in the heart of downtown also will appeal to local residents who just need a
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See RENTAL, 5A
Officer injured in crash; other driver on the run
shelley smith/SALISBURY POST
This cruiser was damaged in a crash Wednesday night.
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Today’s forecast 74º/47º Mostly sunny
Salisbury Police officers were looking for the driver of a green sedan that crashed into a patrol car Wednesday night. The driver escaped on foot. Police on the scene said the officer was traveling west on Jake Alexander Boulevard when he approached the intersection of Industrial Avenue. The other motorist was traveling east on Jake Alexan-
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Deaths
der Boulevard and tried to turn left in front of the officer onto Industrial Avenue. The officer swerved to avoid the accident, but his vehicle hit the rear of the sedan. The police cruiser traveled at least 100 yards, snapping a power pole and tree in half, taking
Mary Louise Ramsey
SALISBURY — The draft budget unveiled Tuesday in the N.C. House of Representatives proposes a consolidation of the Rowan and Cabarrus county district attorney offices, with one district attorney in charge of prosecuting both counties. The two counties were a single prosecutorial district from Jan. 1, 1991, until Dec. 31, 1994, while former district attorney Bill Kenerly, supervised both counties. It divided Jan. 1, 1995, and Kenerly remained district attorney until he retired last year. And in the 1970s, when Kenerly was an assistant district attorney, Rowan County was part of a four-county district — Montgomery, Cabarrus, Randolph and Rowan counties. If the provision is approved, former Cabarrus Assistant District Attorney Brandy Cook would serve only one term before having to decide whether to run against her former boss, Cabarrus District Attorney Roxanne Vaneekhoven.
See DA, 5A
Deep cuts would come to education, but not teaching jobs RALEIGH — North Carolina House budget proposals released Tuesday would cut thousands of school support and administrative posts while largely sparing teachers. As part of an effort to close an expected $2 billion-plus shortfall, House budget-writers proposed cutting public schools by 9 percent from levels needed to continue services at current levels. Community colleges would see tuition increases for students and a 10 percent cut in funding. The University of North Carolina system’s funding would be cut 16 percent. Legislators representing Rowan County as part of the new Republican majority say the education cuts aren’t as severe as they could have been. “The cuts look better than what we’ve heard and what we thought,” said N.C. Rep. Fred Steen. “We’re still trying to prioritize education as best we can, and we’ve been trying to keep the funding level as high as we could.” In total, cuts to education in the House draft are nearly double what Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue had proposed in her budget. The state would appropriate $10.66 billion (a 10.5 percent
See CRASH, 3A
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Bridge Classifieds Comics Crossword
See CUTS, 2A 11B 5B 10B 10B
Deaths Horoscope Opinion Food
4A 11B 10A 8A
Second Front 3A Sports 1B Television 10D Weather 12B