Sun Journal (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, New Bern, North Carolina Sun New Bern North Carolina Welcome mat is always out in riverside village McGall of Harbour was all smiles with her plate of spaghetti and some friendly conversation with volunteers at the United Methodist Church fund raiser March 24 The second annual event sold 250 din ners with proceeds going to the Coastal Womens Shel ter Bridgeton facts Population 400 Water First Craven Sewer Town of Bridgeton Mayor Rodman William Mayor Pro Tern Charles Freeman Council Mary Spano Keith Tyndall Dennis Haggett Town Hall 202 B 637 3697 Tax rate 47 cents Police chief Dan Garden Town clerk Elaine Bryan note This is the first of an occasional series looking at yearlong cel of 100 years Today The welcome mat is out Monday Growth is on the horizon May Development plans June Celebrating a rich his tory September Remembering the founding families Thotos b Town identity extends into countryside By Charlie Halt Sun Journal Staff BRIDGETON name has said it all for 100 years a small town that bridged the countryside east of the Neuse River to the areas largest city New Bern Bridgeton residents have seen three bridges over the past century a wooden one at the end of Bridge Street the John Lawson concrete bridge built in 1954 and finally the mil lion Neuse River high rise just outside town in 1999 But one element has never changed The welcome sign has always been out Ruth Langford who lives in nearby Fair field Harbour says residents there consider Bridgeton their town Bridgeton youngsters look over books at the Little Red Bookmobile re cent stop by librarian Nikki Ingianni Itis a new service in the area with a variety of programs Oh yes she said There is a great deal of friend ship and interest in whats going to happen in Bridgeton And I think Fairfield will use the village even more when there is more The town which is holding a yearlong celebration of its 100th birthday has a little more than 300 residents That number is likely to increase sharply with several major residential de in the works on the waterfront and eastward across 17 For years one of the focal points of town was Bridgeton Elementary School which See Bridgeton has its smalltown ameni ties At the far left lo cal fishermen try their luck in the Neuse from the pier at the town park At the left a busy spot on weekends is a community yard sale along 17 Iraq endorses contentious plan to relocate Arabs from Kirkuk New figures show death toil twice Iraqi armys in March By Steven R Hurst The Associated Press BAGHDAD government has endorsed plans to relocate thousands of Arabs who were moved to Kirkuk as part of Saddam campaign to force ethnic Kurds out of the city in an effort to undo one of the for mer dictators most enduring and hated policies The Interior Ministry meanwhile raised the death toll in last weeks sui cide truck bombing of a Shiite market in Tal Afar to 152 which would make it the deadliest single strike since the war started four years ago A spokesman for the ed ministry Brig AbdulKarim Khalaf said the toll nearly doubled after more bodies were pulled from the rubble in the northwestern city The military and the mayor of Tal Afar kept the death toll at 83 But they acknowledged the figure could rise The contentious decision on Kirkuk was confirmed Saturday by Sun ni justice minister as he told The Asso Press he was resigning Almost immediately opposition politicians said they feared it would harden the violent divisions among fractious ethnic and religious groups and possibly lead to an Iraq divided among Kurds Arabs and Shiites The plan was virtually certain to an ger neighboring Turkey which fears a northward migration of Iraqi Kurds and an exodus of Sunni Arabs will inflame its own restive Kurdish minor ity Around Iraq Saturday at least 38 people were killed or found dead in se One killed in shooting involving a deputy sheriff Victim identified as man charged with counterfeiting offense By Francine Sawyer and Sue Book Sun Journal Staff VANCEBORO A man released Friday following counterfeiting charges by Craven County Sheriff Department is dead Satur day from a gunshot fired by a deputy sheriff The body of William Wright 36 was still at a Sterling Drive crime home iate Saturday as the State Bu reau of Investigation in It was report edly his brothers house And Deputy William Marsh was at Craven Re gional Medical Center be ing treated for injuries he sustained while respond ing to a call of a fight in progress at about 5 at the residence The SBI crime unit is at the scene processing the evidence and other SBI agents are in the pro cess of interviewing wit said District At torney Scott Thomas who did not release the name of the dead man At four troop ers and a deputy sher iff manned the entrance to Sterling Drive five car lengths away from a school zone for West Craven High School on Streets Ferry Road Two rescue units and at least seven law enforce ment vehicles were down the dirt road to the cluster of modular homes behind a graveyard with a mound of flowers on a fresh grave By 7 the troopers were checking licenses of See Bush calls for Iran to release British sailors President calls their capture inexcusable By Deb Riechmann The Associated Press CAMP DAVID President Bush on Satur day called for the release of 15 British sailors and marines being held by Iran calling their capture by Tehran inexcusable Iran must give back the Bush said Theyre innocent they did nothing wrong and they were summarily plucked out of Bush also said during the joint appearance with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that Alberto Gonzales is hon and honest and has his full support despite contradictory statements about the embattled attor ney generals role in the Charles photo President Bush addresses reporters Saturday calling Irans capture of 15 British sailors and marines able and says Iran must give back the innocent firing of federal tors The comments on the captured Britons were the first from Bush as Washington has taken a lowkey approach so far out of concern that more See Emad photo A medic helps a man while his wife looks away in a hospital in See Kirkuk Iraq Saturday The man was hurt in a roadside bomb blast Since 1876 Weather Mostly cloudy with a chance Region Animal Welfare Societys Pet Parade held See Page 01 Sports Ohio State defeats Hoy as to advance to title game See Page Bl Nation President welcomes Sliva to discuss ethanol trade See Page AS V
