School districts to slash budgets, jobs

By John Milburn The Associated Press

Times-News

sociation of School Boards. And the number of teachers now receiving layoff notices is no worse Third verse, same as the first. than at this time last year, he said. For the third consecutive year, legBut last year was a very islators failed by the end of March bad year, Tallman said. to settle on how much money the The Alamance County School state will spend on public schools Board is considering cuts of for the following school year. $12.5 million in its $375 milAnd with a April 30 deadline lion budget and the eliminafor notifying teachers that they tion of 34 teaching positions. wont have jobs next fall, school Diane Gjerstad, who lobbies districts had no choice but to as- for Alamance County schools, sume the worst -- and to send bad said the district had no magnews to hundreds of teachers. ic left for balancing its books. Some will be hired back in the Our rabbits are gone. Weve next few months as district finances used them all up, she said. are firmed up, said Mark Tallman, That is because Alamance Countys lobbyist for the North Carolina As- local option budget -- revenue raised through local property - The Alamance County taxes to supplement a disSchool Board is considering tricts state aid -- has been increased through the cuts of $12.5 million. years to the maximum allowed by state law. In - Legislators have passed a the past, local option rev$10 billion budget for the up- enue allowed the district to avoid reductions that coming fiscal year. would affect classrooms. That isnt so this year. - Local option revenue has We will have to cut increased to the maximum positions, and well try to do it through attriallowed by state law. tion, Gjerstad said, adding that the district - Thirty-four teaching posi- typically fills 300 teachtions may be cut in Alamance er positions each year. Legislators already have County.

NUMBERS

THE

Greeted with open arms

By Cait Purinton Staff Writer Nicole Williams was welcomed to Burlington with open arms when she was released from the State Correctional Facility for women. She was greeted by her case manager from the Alamance County Inmate Reentry Program, and before her release she was greeted by other community representatives who are helping Williams and other inmates lead crimefree lives through the program. Williams said she has more confidence that will she succeed because of the assistance she has received through the program. Before, I wouldnt have even tried. I would have walked out the front door and said Ill be back. Catch me if you can, Williams said. This time I can say Im not coming back. The program has become one of the most notable of its kind in the state, in part because of its rigorous nature. A case manager with the Alamance County Inmate Reentry Program meets with the offender a year before her release to assess the offenders risk and needs. Each re-entry plan then is tailored to the offenders needs and may include a combination of classes in money management, family transition, social skills, diversity and tolerance, employment and addiction recovery. The case manager meets with the offender once a week before her release from prison. In the six months following the offenders release from prison, the case manager slowly turns the case over to the offenders parole officer. Throughout the course of a year, the offender meets with various teams made up of a case manager, community police officer, parole officer, a mentor and key components of the offenders re-entry plan. Program director Terry Finley said there are more than 50 community partners who assist offenders with issues such as housing, jobs, addiction recovery and mental health. I think most people are willing to understand the fact that we cant build enough prisons, Zellers said. And, how successful would you be coming back if you didnt have some preparations and community support? The program is designed to assist the most serious and violent offenders. Program participants must be 18 to 34 years old and have a significant connection to Alamance County. In Williams case, she established

Nicole Williams, recently released from the State Correctional Facility for women, is greeted by her friend, Christina Belland. Inmate programs such as the Alamance County Inmate Reentry Program are providing assistance to inmates, with housing, jobs, recovery, etc.

Correctional facility programs provide assistance

Former White House lawyer visits Burlington

By David Clouston Reporter Some of the most tantalizing mysteries surrounding the Watergate scandal are ones not even former White House counsel, now author, John Dean III, can put to rest. Dean was in Burlington for a speech to a district Rotary Club gathering and a public presentation Friday at Elons Moseley Center. Dean became a key celebrity figure during Watergate, spending four months in prison for obstruction of justice for his role in the cover-up of the scandal. A break-in June 17, 1972, at the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex in Washington, D.C. ultimately led to President Nixons resignation in disgrace August 9, 1974. Conventional theory holds that the break-in was designed to collect political information about Nixons Democratic opponents. As the scandal unfolded, news items like the infamous eighteenminute gap and the identity of the confidential source known as Deep Throat would make headlines in the manner of Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater two decades later for President Clinton. Dean, who was Nixons White

Speech reveals insight on Nixon, Watergate

Doing the responsible thing: Congress divided over deficiency savings, deadline
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite prodding from President Barack Obama, members of Congress supercommittee concede no deal is in sight to meet their goal of $1.2 trillion or more in deficit savings over the next decade. Instead, with only 10 days remaining until a Nov. 23 deadline, the panel is divided along partisan lines and Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said Sunday the six committee members of his own party have not coalesced around a plan. Despite the difficulties, Clyburn and Republicans on the deficit panel all said they havent given up hope of a deal by the deadline. But if this was easy, the president of the United States and the speaker of the House would have gotten it done themselves, said Rep Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the Republican chairman of the committee. Obama mentioned his own unsuccessful negotiations with Speaker John Boehner in passing at a news conference in Hawaii on Sunday where he urged the members of the committee to show more flexibility. It feels as if people continue to try to Despite some concessions, the two stick with their rigid positions rath- sides remain divided over the same er than solve the problem, he said. basic issues that thwarted earlier Theres no magic formula. There deficit reduction efforts - finding are no magic beans that you can toss a mutually agreeable blend of tax i nc re a s e s on the and cuts ground in the largand sud- We got to just go ahead and do the est govdenly a responsible thing. ernment bunch of -BARACK OBAMA b e n e f i t money programs. g r o w s on trees, Obama added. Democrats on the supercommittee We got to just go ahead and say they are willing to make signifido the responsible thing. cant reductions in programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid only after Republicans agree to higher tax revenue, including a larger bite out of the income of the wealthy. Republicans say that the soaring deficits result from too much spending, and not from a shortage of revenue to the Treasury, and tax increases would crimp efforts to create jobs. In an offer they said marked a significant concession, GOP members on the panel offered last week to raise taxes by $250 billion over a decade as part of an overhaul of the tax code that si-

House lawyer, thinks the gap on one of the tapes secretly recording conversations in the oval office, could easily have been made by Nixons clumsiness with the taping system, rather than a deliberate attempt to conceal incriminating speech. What was physically impossible, Dean told an audience Tuesday at Elon University, was for secretary Rose Mary Woods to have erased accidentally part of the tape as some have suggested. I got to thinking about a man (Nixon) I know who had trouble, literally, sometimes opening his desk drawer, Dean John Dean said. He had trouble with (aspirin bottles) pressing down and turning (the cap). He couldnt figure that out. He hadnt driven a car in decades ... so it became very clear to me that there was only one person who could have (caused the gap) and that was Nixon and I think it might have been as much an error as anything else, Dean said. Dean was in Burlington for a speech to a district Rotary Club gathering and a public presentation Wednesday at Elons Moseley Center. Dean became a key celebrity figure during Watergate, spending four months in prison for obstruction of justice for his role in the cover-up of the scandal. Now an investment banker in Beverly Hills, Dean, spends most of his time writing. He published

Demonstrators retaliate over arrests, rumors

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Police drove hundreds of anti-Wall Street demonstrators from weeks-old encampments in Portland and arrested more than 50 of them, as authorities in Oakland, Calif., warned Occupy campers that a similar crackdown was coming. Portland police moved in shortly before noon Sunday and forced protesters into the street after dozens remained in the camp in defiance city officials. Mayor Sam Adams had ordered that the camp shut down Saturday at midnight, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampments attraction of drug users and thieves. More than 50 protesters were arrested in the police action, but officers did not use tear gas, rubber bullets or other socalled non-lethal weapons, police said. After the police raid, the number of demonstrators swelled throughout the afternoon. By early evening, dozens of officers brandishing nightsticks stood shoulder-to-shoulder to hold the protesters back. Authorities retreated and protesters broke the standPolice officers arrest a Portland, Ore. protestor Nov. 13. Po- off by marching through the streets. lice surrounded the demonstrators in a downtown park after Demonstrators regrouped several they refused the mayors orders to leave the park by midnight. blocks away, where they broke into small groups to discuss their future. The Oregonian reported that numbers began to thin out by mid-evening. In Oakland, city officials warned protesters for the third time in three days that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza in front of City Hall and face immediate arrest. Police did not respond to requests for comment on whether officers were preparing to forcibly clear the camp. Protesters said the main plaza was abuzz with rumors of imminent police action, and campers were discussing what to do and how to safeguard those who decided to stay. Oakland is not afraid. Were not afraid of our tents being taken away, of the movement being stymied, said Shon Kae, who is part of the groups media team. A live video feed posted on the Internet by protesters of the encampment showed many protesters milling as 4 a.m. PST Monday but there were no signs of imminent police action. The warnings were similar to those issued before officers raided the encampment on Oct. 25 with tear gas and bean bag projectiles.

a job in Burlington through the prisons work-release program, enabling her to save money to secure reliable housing after her release. Williams, 24, was convicted in 1997 of involuntary manslaughter, and in 2001 of making false writing. She was incarcerated for those convictions and for violating parole. She applied for the program more than a year ago and has completed courses in life skills, re-entry planning, employment, health and family transition. Williams also earned her general equivalency diploma. Viccie Ducksworth, Williamss case manager, said she has noticed considerable changes in Williams in the past year. She wouldnt say anything to anybody, including me. If she didnt know you, she wouldnt talk. It

BY

multaneously would cut the top rate from 35 percent to 28 percent. Democrats swiftly rejected that as a tax cut for the wealthy in disguise, and separately jettisoned an earlier proposal that would have slowed the growth in cost of living increases under Social Security. There has been little, if any, indication of progress in the talks since then. But Hensarling seemed to suggest in an interview Sunday that the two parties could find a way around the fast-approaching Thanksgiving deadline by coming