March 4 - 17, 2021
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‘Making the best of it’
Reopening of schools draws muted excitement from some middle and high school students who are wary of COVID-19 and have settled into remote learning by CHRIS BURRITT Photo by Chris Burritt/NWO
Students recently returning to Northwest Middle School for two days per week of in-person instruction were greeted with Welcome Back signs displayed throughout the school’s campus. Guilford County Schools’ middle and high school students were initially scheduled to return to the classrooms in a phased approach beginning Jan. 7, but the re-entry plan was postponed – twice. Sixth and ninth graders were finally given the option to return for in-person instruction the week of Feb. 22 for the first time since schools closed March 14, 2020. Seventh, 10th and 12th graders were invited to return this week, with eighth graders and 11th graders to follow next week.
IN THIS ISSUE News in brief................................................ 2 Your Questions............................................ 4 Stokesdale Town Council meeting ......... 6 Barnes’ first novel: ‘Sunrise at Sunset’ ..... 7 Bits & Pieces ................................................ 8 Welcome to our new advertisers ............ 8 Pets & Critters .............................................. 9 Oak Ridge Easter Horse Show returns .. 10 NWO Kids’ Korner ...............................12, 22 Pet Adoptions ........................................... 13 Crime/Incident Report ............................ 14 Community Calendar............................. 15 Student Profiles ......................................... 18 High School football ................................20 Grins and Gripes ...................................... 24 Classifieds ................................................. 28 Index of Advertisers ................................. 31
NW GUILFORD – From the driver’s seat of school bus No. 1096, Catherine Woods hears students from Oak Ridge Elementary and Northwest Guilford Middle and High schools talking about the resumption of in-person classes. It’s been almost a year since the onset of the
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Attorney’s letter prompts calls to NCDOT After being contacted by an attorney specializing in eminent domain, Stokesdale citizens reach out to department’s local office with concerns about a four-lane divided highway by PATTI STOKES STOKESDALE – News of a roadway project moving forward in Stokesdale prompted several calls last month to NCDOT’s District 7 office in Greensboro. Wright Archer, District 7 division engineer, told Stokesdale Town Council members at their Feb. 11 meeting that several citizens had called the local DOT office with questions and concerns about a project that he believes some may have confused with the future U.S. 158 Bypass through Stokesdale, which will not
be constructed for at least 15 or more years.
Mayor John Flynt told Wright the calls likely came after citizens received a letter from a lawyer specializing in eminent domain who wished to represent them in negotiations with NCDOT to acquire rights of way. NCDOT’s R-5823 recently entered into the design phase after being suspended for almost two years because of budget constraints. The project proposes road improvements along an approximately 2-mile stretch of highway beginning at N.C. 65’s (Belews Creek Road) southernmost intersection in Stokesdale to where it ties in with N.C. 68, and then running north until the two highways split off. Once the final design is approved, DOT will begin acquiring rights of way for the project, with construction tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2023. Some have mistaken R-5823 for R-2577, which is the
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