Republican candidate for governor Pat McCroy wants Dorothea Dix and John Umstead mental hospitals to stay open until mid-2009.

McCrory will call for the extended operation of those two state mental hospitals at a news conference this afternoon, according to his spokesman, V. Tom Gardner. Most patients are set to move out of the two hospitals this month and into the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.  But questions about the new hospital's safety, staffing shortages and lack of staff preparation have some Dix workers and legislators calling for a delay.       McCrory, Charlotte's mayor, wants the next governor to have a chance to examine the situation before patients and staff move, Gardner said.