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Regional Briefs: Arts center will be closed temporarily
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Published: August 12, 2009
BLOWING ROCK -- The Hayes Performing Arts Center and Blowing Rock Stage Company will temporarily close at the end of the summer season because of the economy, the board of trustees said yesterday.
Kenneth Kay, the interim executive director and producing artistic director, has submitted his resignation, effective Sept. 8 at the close of the show Hank Williams: Lost Highway.
The board said it is looking for money get the center back on sound economic footing before the 2010 summer season.
Board Chairman Ron Bryson said that the center has had artistic success despite the severe economic downturn.
"The board and staff are proud of the body of work that they have provided our community, and we commend Kenneth Kay and his staff for the manner in which they have coped with this difficult economic climate," Bryson said.
He said that the center has provided quality cultural and economic contributions, and the board intends to find a way to sustain those benefits to the community.
42 test positive for tuberculosis
WILMINGTON -- Health officials say that 42 people have tested positive for tuberculosis at a jail in southeastern North Carolina.
Brunswick County health officials said Monday that 650 current and former inmates and jail workers have been tested since the outbreak started last month.
Health Director Don Yousey said that two people have had the active, contagious forms of the illness. One other former inmate is being examined to determine if the bacterial infection has reached his lungs, which means the disease could be spread.
The health department requires those who test positive to take medicine for several months to keep the potentially deadly illness from spreading.
Town set to start canal dredging
SOUTHERN SHORES -- A canal-dredging project on the Outer Banks is almost ready to start, five years after the town of Southern Shores first tried to get the project off the ground.
The seven miles of canals haven't been dredged in decades. Muck and fallen branches have clogged them.
Two previous attempts failed because the town doesn't have enough land to dump the dredged material, and residents didn't want it in their neighborhoods. Some who had agreed to take the material changed their minds.
Special operations to grow by 500
FAYETTEVILLE -- Special operations at a North Carolina Army post will swell by an additional 500 soldiers despite the departure of a large special-operations group in 2011.
Adm. Eric Olson, the special-operations commander, said that the number of special-operations soldiers will grow even after more than 2,000 leave Fort Bragg for Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. in 2011. The soldiers will take 4,000 family members with them.
Olson spoke about the future of special operations at Fort Bragg yesterday. He recommended expanding special operations at the post by an additional 3 percent to 5 percent over the next four to five years.
Feed-maker closing in Wilson
WILSON -- Wilson Milling will close Thursday, laying off 25 to 30 workers and idling an area landmark.
The owners, Douglas Bunting and C.B. Bunting, tried to sell the plant, which produces animal feed, but they were unable to find a buyer.
"The price of hogs kept going down, the price of feed kept going up; it just wasn't feasible," a company spokeswoman said Monday.
The plant on U.S. 301 with its multifloor layout and silos has been one of the most identifiable structures in the city for 50 years.
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