Surry sheriffreprimanded, responds to county property allegations

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Page 4 www.elkintribune.com Monday, December 26, 2011 THE TRIBUNE (USPS 715—720) Nathan DiBagno General Manager/Editor ndibagno@heartlandpublications.com Holly Lamm Classified Advertising Manager hlamm@elkintribune.com Serving Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. Published tri-weekly by Heartland Publications, LLC dba The Tribune, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 214 E. Main St., Elkin, N.C. 28621. Phone 835-1513 in Elkin, N.C. Periodicals Postage Paid at Elkin, N.C. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Tribune, 214 E. Main St., Elkin, NC 28621. (USPS 715—720). You Decide: What explains N.C. economic paradox? Most people judge the economy by the job market, and certainly the job news in North Carolina during the last few years has been challenging. For 34 straight months beginning in January 2009, our state has had an unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) above 9 percent, and in 23 of those months the rate was over 10 percent. Today there are more than 300,000 fewer jobs than there were in early 2008, and although there’s been job growth since 2010, the growth rate has been quite low, at 0.6 percent. And what’s more worrisome to many is that the state’s job situation has underperformed the national numbers. In the last three years, North Carolina’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national rate in all but one month. Also, since the beginning of 2010, the nation has added jobs at a rate three times Mike Walden Op/Ed faster than North Carolina (1.8 percent versus 0.6 percent), and even the national growth is sluggish. So this isn’t a very positive picture for North Carolina. But what if I told you another broad measure of the economy actually shows North Carolina performing much better and even better than the nation for two straight years? This would give us some hope. The good news is that such a measure does exist, and it gives a much more upbeat view of our state’s economy. The measure is “gross domestic product,” usually shortened to GDP. It calibrates the value of what is produced in an economy, and the measure is available for the nation as well as all states. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have 2011 GDP information available, so my comparisons are based on 2009 and 2010 data. The worst of the recession occurred in 2009, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that GDP fell in both the nation and in North Carolina during that year. But GDP fell less (2 percent) in our state compared to the national drop (2.5 percent). Fortunately, 2010 was a growth year for GDP, and once again North Carolina did better, with our state GDP rising onethird faster than national GDP. These results create an economic paradox. While North Carolina has performed better than the nation in the past two years by a broad measure of production (GDP), the state’s job market has lagged national trends. Why? There are several possible answers. Usually it takes time — especially when the economy is coming out of a recession — for increases in output to translate into increases in jobs. One reason is that businesses must be convinced the economic improvement is permanent, so they will hold off on hiring until they are certain the recovery is for real. Yet there’s no requirement that the time between output improvements and hiring is the same in North Carolina as in the nation. In fact, traditionally the time span between output improvements and jobs has been longer in North Carolina. For example, in the economic expansion of the 2000s (2002-07), employment growth was faster in North Carolina than in the nation over the entire period, but it was slower in the first three years. Job growth in North Carolina could also be lagging due to the continued downsizing in some of the state’s traditional industries. Tobacco, textiles and furniture, which dominated the North Carolina economy for almost a century, have been cutting output and jobs during the last 30 years. These changes have occurred in both expansionary and recessionary periods. However, trends since early 2010 don’t suggest this downsizing has been a big factor in the state’s job market. Since then, cuts in tobacco and textile (including apparel) jobs have been relatively small, accounting for only 0.1 percent of all state jobs. The furniture industry has actually added some jobs in the last two years. This brings us to an explanation for the North Carolina economic paradox that can be a short-run negative but a long-run plus: worker productivity. During and immediately after recessions, businesses strive to use their workers smarter and more efficiently; that is, to improve output per worker. This can be done by improving production techniques, using better technology and upgrading equipment and machinery. Indeed, spending on technology, machinery and equipment has been a strong factor in the recent economy. North Carolina is one of the leading states in worker productivity. In 2010 (latest year available), the state ranked 11th among all states in a broad measure of worker productivity. Also, from 2009 to 2010, North Carolina’s worker productivity improved twice as fast as the national rate. Obviously, if two people can do the work that three used to accomplish, job gains will be slower in the short run. This could be what has been happening in North Carolina and may be one reason for the state’s economic paradox. Yet there can be a silver lining. Businesses like to locate where worker productivity is high. So the payoff for the state may be a burst of jobs down the road. I know many people are waiting, and I’m hopeful it will happen, but you decide! Dr. Mike Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Professor and North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics of N.C. State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He teaches and writes on personal finance, economic outlook and public policy. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences communications unit provides his You Decide column every two weeks. Previous columns are available at http://www.cals. ncsu.edu/agcomm/news-center/tag/you-decide The Tribune’s policy on letters This page is dedicated to opinions — yours, ours, anyone’s. We welcome responses from our readers to our editorials, columns, cartoons or letters. If you have something on your mind or agree or disagree with something you see here, write it down and send it to us as a letter to the editor. Writers will be limited to one letter per month. Letters should be no more than 500 words and must include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We will not publish anonymous letters. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Tribune, PO Box 1009, Elkin, NC 28621. You may also fax your letters to us at 835-8742, or e-mail us at: letters@elkintribune.com. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. Opinion & Viewpoints What goes around comes around TV once featured on Sunday nights a furry, four-footed hero, Lassie, a collie who would rescue the cute little-boy star when he got trapped in abandoned mines and such. During this time I had Toby, a mutt who, whenever I approached, would go limp, lie down on his back and do absolutely nothing. Not hero material. So dogs became boring to me when I was a kid, and after Toby died I did not get another dog nor did I ask for one. So, surprise, not long ago here comes the Better Half announcing that we were expecting a blessed event. No, we were not becoming parents in our old age, Abraham-and- Sarah style. Instead, Half announced we were getting a puppy. Now this news was a good-enough miracle in itself, as Half does not take to dogs and had declared many times that we would never have another dog. Meanwhile, over the years I have grown to love dogs, and I had grown particularly fond of a Dalmatian whom, after 10 wonderful years together, I lost two years ago to cancer. But a daughter-in-law had come into possession of a litter some time after the mother dog had somehow gotten out of the fence and went AWOL for four days. The resultant litter got whittled down to just one passed-over pup that the stepson had threatened to take to the pound because he refused to keep a second dog. So the daughter-in-law pleaded and Half gave in all too easily. And we get a new dog. “I’ll try to take more of an interest in this one,” Half promised me. So I found myself getting up one morning after the grandkids were off to school and driving over to their place to steal away the rescue pup. The kids had put up a fuss about it, I had heard. I had seen the litter just once, before the pups had opened their eyes, so I had no idea what I would find, which pup I would be picking up or what I was getting myself into. Since no one was home, I helped myself to the unlocked backyard gate. Soon enough here come running the white mutt momma dog and just Stephen Harris Back in the Hometown behind her a streak of black. The pup jumped up on my shin, up and down, up and down. I walked over to the steps to sit down and take a closer look. The rottweiler-mix pup immediately jumped up on my lap and got close and personal. Two brown spots over the eyes and a profile fired up my old memories. The pup was a spitting image of Toby, from 50 years before. Suddenly I was in a second childhood. Now this is not a story of an old man dreamily reliving some sweet childhood memories. Truth be told, I don’t remember much about Toby. I have one photo, of me about 5 years old wearing a little sailor’s hat that I got at the beach and Toby lying in front of me with belly upturned. Toby didn’t last long after that. I don’t even remember what happened to him. All that I do remember is that whenever I approached Toby he would just lie down just like in the photo, frozen. I would rub his belly, a lot, because that was the only thing within reach. So now I get up in the mornings and go out back. There is the pup – I tried to call him Toe, in memory of Toby, but that idea got vetoed. Toby-In-Miniature is trying to climb the fence. He is running around. He is jumping in and out of my lap. He can’t decide whether to play or eat, running back and forth, back and forth, between me and the dog dish. My surviving Dalmatian looks annoyed. The energetic pup acts the exact opposite of mild Toby. When the pup does finally settle down for a good petting, I stroke his soft back, then run my fingers around the base of his ears. And then he rolls over on his side – not on his back Toby-style – and there is a fat little puppy belly to rub. And I am taken back to the old homeplace up in State Road with the spacious back and side yards. And there is Toby again as I sit cross-legged and stoking that dog’s belly. And now I know the meaning of the adage what goes around comes around. *********** Stephen Harris returned home to live in State Road
SportS MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2011 TRIBUNE/Matthew Gorry Starmount’s Eugene Billips flies to the basket Thursday night against Surry Central. Matthew Gorry Sports Writer mgorry@heartlandpublications.com DOBSON — Coming into the 2011-12 season, the Rams arguably had one of the deepest and most experienced rosters in the Mountain Valley Conference. After losing senior Christian Hurt for the year to a neck injury sustained in football, two more players are likely to join him on the bench with season-ending injuries, thinning the Rams’ roster even more. Senior Alex Barr went down in the first quarter against Forbush on Dec. 13 with an ACL tear and is likely done for the year, while key bench player Chaston Martin will undergo hernia surgery and will be sidelined for the remainder of the season. This leaves junior varsity callups Benjamin Combs and Gunner Cass to fill the void and give an injury-ravished Rams’ club some much-needed depth. “We’re working on our depth. We’ve had some key players go down, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse,” explained Jeffrey Hague, Starmount head coach. “I was talking to my assistant coach earlier, and I feel like our team is having to find our identity again. Before Alex and Chaston went out, I thought we were finding our identity. Then they go down, and it’s like we have to start all over again. “It hurts, but I hate it for the kids more than anything, because I feel like they want to be out there. Like I said, we’re not going to make excuses, we have to just play with the hand we were dealt, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” he added. Asking young, inexperienced players for quality minutes on the floor is a tall order in any game, but especially tough when facing the Wilmoth brothers and the high-flying Surry Central Golden Eagles. The duo of Zach and Ethan Wilmoth powered their way to a combined 47 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals as Surry Central held off a furious Ram comeback in the final quarter to roll to a 67-53 victory. “I thought we came out pretty good and played decent early. But we just didn’t do a good job at executing our offense,” Hague said. “We just have a lot of work to do, our kids are still not getting it, and to me, that’s just the coach’s fault. We’re going have to work harder to get them to understand the offense. Defensively, I didn’t think we played bad. “Late in the game, we’re down and we have to take chances and foul. And they hit their free throws; for as long as I can remember, Surry Central has always hit their free throws. That was expected,” he added. Ethan and Charlie Wagoner traded baskets for the first four minutes to open the contest. The Eagle forward netted Surry Central’s first eight points, while Wagoner poured in six-straight for the Rams, as Starmount trailed 8-6 at the 3:50 mark. Finally someone else lit up the scoreboard for Starmount in Austin Somers. Somers, another role player being asked to step up, hit a reverse layup under the basket before laying it up on a breakaway to give the Rams their first lead of the game at 11-8. Coby Chilton cut the lead to 11- 10, but Dillon Dobson scored the final three points of the opening period to give Starmount a 14-10 advantage heading into the second. Zach Wilmoth got into the action early in the second when he followed two free throws with a deep three-pointer to push the Eagles ahead at 15-14. After Wagoner hit a mid-ranger jumper on a Eugene Billips steal, Central reeled off six-straight points to grab a 21-16 lead with 3:36 left in the half. Fondae McDaniel ignited a Matthew Gorry Sports Writer mgorry@heartlandpublications.com ELKIN — The Elks will join Starmount and a host of other teams in Sparta for the Alleghany Christmas tournament this week. The tourney will tip-off tomorrow and will feature several teams from the area, as well as teams making the trip up the mountain. Elkin and Starmount will join North Surry, South Stokes, Watauga and two clubs from Virginia - Galax and Patrick County. Each school will bring boys and girls varsity teams, except the Rams, who will only travel with the boys club, and West Stokes, who will only play the Lady Wildcats. Elkin, Alleghany and Patrick County will also play junior varsity games during the event. Below is the full schedule of hoops action with Elkin and Starmount games bolded: Dec. 27 Old Gym Alleghany vs. Patrick County (JV girls) - 1 p.m. Alleghany vs. Patrick County (JV boys) - 2:30 p.m. Watauga vs. West Stokes (varsity girls) - 4 p.m. Watauga vs. Starmount (varsity boys) - 5:30 p.m. Alleghany vs. Patrick County (varsity girls) - 7 p.m. TRIBUNE/Matthew Gorry Starmount’s Austin Somers lays it up past a Surry Central defender Thursday night. 7-0 run for the Rams to put them ahead at 23-21 later in the quarter. Following a McDaniel layup inside, another role player Zack Worley connected on a mid-range hook to trim the lead to 21-20. McDaniel then sank a cornerthree on an inbound pass to give the Rams a two-point lead at the 1:05 mark. But Starmount was unable to hold on, as Chilton and Ethan Wilmoth scored in the closing seconds of the half, giving Central a 27-23 advantage at the intermission. Coming out of the break, the Wilmoth brothers scored five of the Eagles’ first seven points of the third, as Surry Central grew their lead out to nine at 34-25 less than three minutes in. Wagoner halted the Eagle run when he grabbed an offensive rebound off a Dobson errant free throw attempt and laid it back up, followed by a Somers layup, as Starmount shaved the lead to 34- 29 with 1:33 remaining. But once again, Ethan Wilmoth came up big, converting an ‘and-1’ chance to extend the lead out to eight before Luke Haymore hit a layup to give Surry Central a 41- 29 lead heading into the decisive fourth quarter. After Wagoner hit a layup on another Billips’ steal to trim the lead to 41-31, the Eagles scored six of the next eight points to swell their lead out to 13 at 46-33. Zach Wilmoth highlighted the stretch when he sank a free throw to convert an old-fashion threepoint play at the 6:28 mark. But Wagoner and the Rams kept clawing back in a chippy fourth quarter. The junior sank a pair of free throws and grabbed another offensive board on a missed free throw attempt and laid it up to trim the lead to 47-35. After a Simeon Bracken tough layup in the paint, Wagoner connected again on a baseline jumper to keep the deficit at 12 with 5:15 left to play. Alleghany vs. Patrick County (varsity boys) - 8:30 p.m. New Gym Elkin vs. South Stokes (varsity boys) - 4 p.m. Elkin vs. South Stokes (varsity girls) - 5:30 p.m. North Surry vs. Galax (varsity boys) - 7 p.m. North Surry vs. Galax (varsity girls) - 8:30 p.m. Dec. 28 Old Gym Elkin vs. North Surry (varsity girls) - 4 p.m. Elkin vs. North Surry (varsity boys) - 5:30 p.m. Alleghany vs. Galax (varsity girls) - 7 p.m. Alleghany vs. Galax (varsity boys) - 8:30 p.m. New Gym Patrick County vs. Elkin (JV girls) - 2:30 p.m. Patrick County vs. Starmount (varsity boys) - 4 p.m. Patrick County vs. West Stokes (varsity girls) - 5:30 p.m. Watauga vs. South Stokes (varsity boys) - 7 p.m. Watauga vs. South Stokes (varsity girls) - 8:30 p.m. Other area teams will be participating in other holiday tournaments this week as well. East Wilkes will join the other three Wilkes clubs at West Wilkes High School for the CFE Shootout tomorrow. The Cardinals are slated play Mount Airy tomorrow and Surry Central Wednesday. Forbush will travel to South Iredell High School for the annual Statesville Record & Landmark Christmas tournament. Their schedule has not been announced yet. The Rams then spurted off a quick 6-0 run, highlighted by four more points for Wagoner and a tough Starmount ‘D’ forcing a 10-second backcourt violation on the Eagles at the 2:41 mark, but still trailed by 10 at 55-45. After trading free throws, Starmount got a much-needed boost from a role player stepping up. Somers snagged another Ram offensive board before drilling a deep corner-trey to trim the lead to just eight at 60-52. But clutch free throw shooting by Surry Central staved off a furious Starmount comeback bid, as the Eagles held on for the hardfought 67-53 victory. “They’re a good team, and that’s what good teams do,” Hague said. “You try and make a run at them, and they make runs back and hit their free throws. They just know how to close out a ballgame. You have to give them credit - they did what they had to do to win the game.” Wagoner led the Ram offense with a team-high 22 points on the night, while McDaniel and Somers Matthew Gorry, Sports Writer (336) 835-1513 mgorry@heartlandpublications.com TRIBUNE/Matthew Gorry Charlie Wagoner fires a shot over two defenders Thursday night against Surry Central. Starmount falls late to Surry Central 67-53 Rams head to Alleghany Christmas tourney Sports Brief Registration for indoor soccer now open Registration is now open for U6 and U8 indoor soccer. The league is co-ed with games scheduled to be played on Saturdays. Registration begins Dec. 5 and will continue until Jan. 16 at the Elkin Recreation Center. Forms are also available online at www.elkinnc.org. Cost for Elkin City residents is $15, while the cost for non-residents is $25. For more information, contact Elkin Recreation and Parks at 835-9814. TRIBUNE/Matthew Gorry Dillon Dobson goes up for a layup against two Surry Central defenders Thursday night. finished in double-digits with 11 points apiece. The Wilmoth brothers combined for 47 points (Zach 24, Ethan 23), while Chilton pitched in 10. Starmount’s losing streak hit three games with the loss Thursday night, as the Rams fall to 4-4 on the year overall but still sit near the top of the conference standings at 3-2. The Rams return after Christmas when they travel to Alleghany High School for the Alleghany Christmas Tournament Tuesday and Wednesday. “Hopefully we can get something started. I talked to the kids about building, we have to get something started and build on it,” Hague added. “We’re going to focus on offensive execution mainly. I think our defense can be good most nights, but we just have to execute our offensive better and get our depth better so we can continue to run, because I think that’s our strong point. And we have to get our bench to step up. “But we’re not going to make any excuses,” he finished. Christmas tournament schedules Elks, Rams play at Alleghany; Cardinals at West Wilkes TRIBUNE/Matthew Gorry Johnathan Stroud and the Elks will participate this week at the Alleghany Christmas tournament. Elkin will play South Stokes tomorrow and North Surry Wednesday.
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Surry sheriffreprimanded, responds to county property allegations

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