TAKING THE REINS: Showplace gets new top executive. 1B
TUESDAY February 23, 2010 126th year No. 54
RISE TO THE TOP: John Wesley College names new president. 1B
www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
PANTHERS ON THE PROWL: High Point’s women net Big South win. 1D
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WHO’S NEWS
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Sean Austin Kilby was hired as hardware support specialist in the Office of Information Technology at High Point University. Kilby is responsible for attending to computer maintenance and repair. SONNY HEDGECOCK | HPE
Traffic moves south on N. Main Street at Hartley Drive on Monday, the first time in a while when precipitation didn’t freeze on the road or turn the ground white. Forecasters say that may soon change. There’s a slight chance of rain mixed with snow on Wednesday.
INSIDE
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Mall: Teens welcome Oak Hollow shoppers differ on age policy BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – Teenagers may be banned from Hanes Mall during some evening hours on the weekend, but the doors of Oak Hollow Mall are always open to both the young and the old, mall officials said. And depending on your past shopping experiences – and how old you are – that may be a good or a bad thing. Katie Reinsmidt, vice president of corporate communications and investor relations for CBL & Associates, Oak Hollow Mall’s parent company, said the mall does not have a curfew for teenagers or any similar policies in place. CBL also owns Hanes Mall, but the deci-
PAM HAYNES | HPE
Shandi Richardson, 20 (left), and Shondra Richardson, 14, enter Oak Hollow Mall on Sunday. sion to implement curfews is up to the management of each mall, she said. Cheryl Seymour, a shopper at Oak Hollow Mall and mother of two teenagers, said she agrees minors should be banned from malls at certain times without parental supervision.
“Teenagers don’t need to be out by themselves after certain hours of the day,” Seymour said. “I have two teens myself, and I agree that they need adult supervision.” If you’re 20 years old like Shandi Richardson, memories of hanging out at the
mall as a teenager aren’t too far away. Richardson, who shopped at the mall with her 14-year-old sister, Shondra, said she remembered meeting her friends to see a movie or to hang out at the mall on the weekends regularly as a teenager without parental supervision. Often, she and her friends made purchases before leaving. But she also saw other teenagers misbehaving at the mall. “I kind of do and I kind of don’t agree with a policy like that (at Hanes Mall),” she said. “The good side is that a lot of things that happen at malls that shouldn’t won’t happen anymore. The bad side is that a lot of malls are targeted at younger people, and the mall might lose those sales.” Shondra Richardson said she usually doesn’t
hang out at the mall with her friends on the weekends, and the idea of a youth escort policy doesn’t bother her. Other malls in the state, including Northgate Mall in Durham and Triangle Town Center in Raleigh, also prohibit teens from shoppint without an escort during certain evening weekend hours. Triangle Town Center implemented the policy in 2008 after a brawl broke out. Faye Gurley, also a mother of a teenager who shopps at Oak Hollow Mall, said her shopping experiences have been disturbed at several different malls by teenagers, and she supports such a policy. “A lot of times they aren’t shopping seriously,” she said. “They’re just sightseeing and things. I think they shouldn’t be allowed out alone like that.”
TRIAD – The saying goes that nothing’s fair or unfair in love, war and politics. Supporters and detractors of 13term Rep. Howard Coble, R-6th, may learn that lesson first-hand as the 78-year-old congressman’s health emerges as a potential campaign issue through this spring. Coble was released Friday from High Point Regional Hospital af-
ter he fainted and fell Thursday following a Rotary Club of High Point meeting at the High Point Country Club. Coble will face at least three Republican primary challengers in the 6th District primary May 4. He hasn’t faced a primary challenger since his first campaign for Congress in 1984 when he won the GOP nomination and defeated Democratic congressman Robin
COBLE, 2A
GUILFORD COUNTY – Students at three High Point area high schools performed above the national average on Advanced Placement tests, according to a national report. Students at High Point Central, Southwest and Ragsdale high schools exceeded the average, along with the Early College at Guilford, and Grimsley, Northeast, Northwest, Page, Southern, Weaver and Western Guilford high schools, according to the AP Report to the Nation released by the College Board earlier this month. Overall, 1,715 students in the class of 2009 earned a score of 3 or
Edith Bodenhamer, 79 Sandy Clinton Jr., 94 James Cook, 68 Bonnie Cowan, 87 Mary Kavanagh, 85 Oscar Lowe, 83 Edna Mashburn, 90 Mary Smith, 85 Obituaries, 2-3B
WEATHER
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Showers likely High 52, Low 41 6D
POLITICS
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U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, R-6th, hasn’t faced a Republican primary challenger since his first campaign for the office in 1984. This month, three Republican challengers have filed against him in the May 4 primary – Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow, furniture showroom manager Cathy Brewer Hinson of High Point and Dr. James Taylor, a physician in Pinehurst. Coble has retained the seat comfortably in general elections against Democratic and Libertarian challengers dating back to the early 1990s. The 6th District has the highest concentration of registered Republican voters among the state’s 13 congressional districts.
Local students score well on AP tests ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT
OBITUARIES
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phaynes@hpe.com | 888-3617
Coble’s health may become campaign issue BY PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Fire department gets new leader. 1B
means qualified. Scores of 4 or 5 are well qualified and extremely well qualified, respectively. North Carolina is one of 16 Scores: Eleven Guilford County states where the percentage of high schools surpassed the students scoring a 3 or higher on state average equity and excelat least one AP exam exceeds the lence score for their graduating national average. A total of 14,697 class. Equity and excellence North Carolina students achieved shows the percentage of stuthis, and Guilford County Schools dents enrolled at a given grade students accounted for 11.7 perlevel who scored a 3 or higher cent of the total. on at least one AP exam in a “We are proud of our students given year. who are continuing to take and excel on AP exams,” said Guy higher on at least one AP exam. Ferguson, AP, International BacFor the class of 2008, 1,634 stu- calaureate and SAT coordinator. dents scored a 3 or higher. “AP classes are an opportunity AP exam scores are reported for all students to challenge themon a five-point scale. A score of 3 selves and experience college-lev-
AP REPORT
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el work. The success we continue to see is the result of hard, combined work by students, parents, teachers and school employees across the board.” The number of students taking the tests has increased. A total of 3,636 GCS students from the class of 2009 took at least one AP exam during high school, or 14.8 percent of all North Carolina high school students taking AP exams in 2009. For the class of 2008, 3,619 GCS students took an AP exam. Across North Carolina, 24,563 students in the class of 2009 took at least one exam in high school for an increase of 6,473 students since 2004.
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