Navy SEAL's funeral to be held Saturday

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
Published: September 03, 2008

The funeral for Petty Officer Josh Harris of Lexington, the Navy SEAL who drowned Aug. 30 in Afghanistan, will be held at noon Saturday at the First Baptist Church on West Third Avenue in Lexington.

Harris, 30, drowned after he was swept away during a nighttime river crossing, Navy officials and his brother said. Harris graduated from Lexington Senior High School in 1990, where he played football. His body was expected to be returned to the United States yesterday.

Before the funeral, a private memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Grace Episcopal Church on South Main Street in Lexington.

Harris was assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Tactical Development and Evaluation Squadron Two, an elite team within the SEALS based near Virginia Beach, Va.

Winston council accepts WFU bid to buy Ernie Shore Field

Want to buy a used baseball stadium?

The Winston-Salem City Council adopted a resolution last night that accepts an offer by Wake Forest University to buy Ernie Shore Field for $5.5 million, subject to a 10-day upset bid provision as outlined in state law for the disposition of government property.

What that means is that anyone else can now bid on the property, but there is a catch: the upset bid must be in the amount of at least $5,775,050, and must be accompanied by payment of 5 percent of that amount, or $288,752.50.

The long-planned sale of Ernie Shore Field is the by-product of the city's involvement in the construction downtown of a new 5,500-seat baseball stadium. The new stadium and associated development nearby is being built by the owners of the Winston-Salem Warthogs with financial help from both the city and county.

Wake plans to use Ernie Shore Field for its collegiate baseball games

Yadkin commissioners OK agricultural-land revaluation

YADKINVILLE -- The Yadkin County Board of Commissioners approved a new schedule of farm-use property values that would increase the value per acre of agricultural land by 26 percent and forestry by 36 percent.

Commissioners voted 3-2 at their meeting yesterday to increase agricultural land value from $500 an acre to $630 and forestry from $250 an acre to $340. Commissioners Joel Cornelius and Brady Wooten voted against the measure.

The increases will take effect Jan. 1 as part of revaluation and will appear on August 2009 tax bills.

Farm-use values in Yadkin County have not changed since 1991, said Phyllis Adams, the tax administrator. Since that time, there have been three revaluations, and homeowner property values have increased by about 60 percent.

Steve & Barry Stores to stay open here, spokeswoman says

The Steve & Barry's clothing stores in Marketplace Mall in Winston-Salem and in Oak Hollow Mall in High Point will stay open, Rachel Brenner, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.

BH S&B Holdings, a newly formed affiliate of investment firms Bay Harbour Management and York Capital Management, recently bought Steve & Barry's out of bankruptcy. BH S&B Holdings plans to run the chain with fewer stores, dropping to 170 from Steve & Barry's pre-bankruptcy number of 276.