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• then rate your facility on criteria such as staff education and program standards.” In the ratings, Johnson scored a perfect 15 out of 15 possible points. Johnson said that her rating went up from four to five stars after she completed her Early Childhood Credentials and Early Educator Certification at Edgecombe Community College. Johnson also has more than 11 years of experience in the Edgecombe County Public School system in various Pre-K and Kindergarten classes. She said this experience has helped her develop a program that is nurturing as well as educational. “We work hard to make this a great program for our kids; to make the children feel right at home and feel like a part of our family,” said Johnson. “This rating helps let families know that this is a quality facility. And that’s so important when parents are choosing a day care for their children. “They really need to look carefully and do your homework.” Shining Stars Child Care Home is open from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Johnson can be reached at 827-5875. Winston-Salem mill shops surviving sour economy WINSTON-SALEM (AP) — When Michael and Patricia West bought a working mill in historic Bethania nearly four years ago, the economy was in pretty good shape. But conditions soured by the time the couple remodeled and reopened it as Bethania Mill & Village Shoppes in September 2008. The retail and artists center has survived thanks primarily to shoppers such as Linda Hamm. Hamm said she is a frequent customer at the center because of the people who work there and the great deals she gets on merchandise. “I usually always find something,” Hamm said recently at Hand Picked Consignments, a shop in the center, after trying on a gold and metallic formal dress she planned to wear to a wedding. The dress, including matching earrings and bracelets, cost her $21. Michael West said the center has a lot of repeat customers but still has challenges getting folks to know “we are here.” “A lot of people still drive by the mill and say, ’Geez, what a great thing they did renovating the mill,’ but they have yet to come inside,” West said. When people do step into the center, they are pleasantly surprised to find multiple shops in a village market type setting downstairs and open space, nice lighting and finishes upstairs, he said. The first floor of Bethania Mill & Village Shoppes is all retail. Patricia West is the owner of Mill Stone General Store & Gallery, offering a variety of gifts including vintage and specialty candy, wines, gourmet food, products by North Carolina artisans, fashion accessories, custom jewelry, goat soap and merchandise made from llama and alpaca yarn. “What I like about it is it’s made in the U.S.A.,” said Patricia West, who also owns a Christmas shop in the center. “That’s what I want to do here, things that are different.” Cary Lewis, owner of Gemein Haus Candle Co., is one of her vendors, offering a variety of handmade products from various artists and craftsmen, including beeswax candles, metal reproductions and Moravian-style products such as stars and reproduction pottery. “The mill to me is a nice collection of artists and craftsmen that you don’t find any place else, and that’s why I wanted to be associated with it,” Lewis said. “Besides, Mike and Patricia are really good people.” There are two other retailers in the center, Hand Picked Consignments and Olde Towne Gifts. Paige Wheeler opened Hand Picked Consignments in May 2009. She primarily sells high-end gently used clothes but also has new items selling at discounts of up to 75 percent. “I’m a little bit different than some consignment shops,” she said. “I do try to have something for everyone, so I carry extra small through 3X.” She also carries jewelry, shoes and hand bags. Wheeler said she has had some slow periods since she opened but has found that people like coming in and treasure hunting in her shop. She said that the center is more of a destination place. “We don’t get walk-in traffic,” she said. “They have to want to come see us.” Her customers come from as far away as Galax, Va., and Salisbury. Olde Towne Gifts is an eclectic shop owned by Janice Walker. Merchandise includes artwork, jewelry, garden sculptures, fire pots, tea sets, collectibles and outdoor decorative flags. Walker said her business has been good despite the economy. “I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have a lot of unique things and they are priced reasonably,” she said. Despite a rough economy, retailers and artists located in the Bethania Mill & Village Shoppes in Winston-Salem have survived thanks to customers who frequent the center. Photo/AP CONVENT, La. (AP) — The head of Charlottebased Nucor Corp. said Monday that plentiful natural gas supplies made it possible for the steelmaker to set up shop in Louisiana and offer the prospect of creating thousands of jobs by providing a reliable energy source for domestic manufacturing. After a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of Nucor’s $750 million ironmaking plant in St. James Parish, Nucor chief executive Dan DiMicco also warned that skyrocketing oil prices could curtail a shaky recovery for the local economy. The jobless rate in the area araound St. James Parish is still 8.9 percent more than two years after the financial meltdown. “When you see oil getting at a level that is unsupportable, it is not good for the economy,” DiMicco said. “We are still in a recession.” But DiMicco said that under current economic scenarios, he still envisioned Nucor building all five scheduled phases of its Louisiana project, eventually totaling $3.4 billion in investments and 1,250 jobs averaging $75,000 per year. “We didn’t get into this just to put an iron plant here,” he said. The first phase of the project, which DiMicco said would begin engineering and construction as quickly as possible, will produce iron for use in steelmaking at Nucor mills. About 500 construction workers will be involved and the plant will employ 150, DiMicco said. Nucor breaks ground on Louisiana plant Johnson portrays The Cat in the Hat each year at the Pinetops branch of the Edgecombe County Memorial Library during National Educators Association's Read Across America, “I’ve done it so many times,” said Johnson. “That suit has about had it.”.

  

• Tammy Johnson