UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL – Contrary to conventional wisdom, English-only pre-kindergarten classrooms may not help native Spanish-speaking children become better prepared for school. According to research by FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Spanish-speaking children had better social skills when their teachers spoke some Spanish.

“Many early childhood programs are moving toward a system that may isolate children who are learning English, leaving them at risk for social and language problems,” said an author of the study, Gisele Crawford, a research associate at FPG. The study will be published in the April issue of Early Education and Development.

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Spring Break for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is from April 2-6, with a Teacher Workday scheduled on Monday, April 9.  Classes will resume for all students and staff on Tuesday, April 10.

Another important date for April is a delayed opening that is scheduled for April 19.

Vacaciones de Primavera del 2-6 de abril

Las vacaciones de Primavera para las escuelas de Chapel Hill-Carrboro serán del 2 al 6 de abril, con un Día de Trabajo para los Maestros que será el Lunes, 9 de abril.  Las Clases comenzarán nuevamente el Martes, 10 de abril para todos los estudiantes y para el personal docente.

Otra fecha importante para el mes de abril es el Día de Apertura Demorada que será el 19 de abril.

Take a Walk in the Woods and Pay Attention to the Beech Leaves

By Ken Moore

As Dave Cook engagingly describes in The Piedmont Almanac, “There is something conclusive about the day the old brown beech leaves fall.” Dave’s observation is for the fourth week of March — and he is right on target for this seasonal occurrence in our local Piedmont region around Carrboro and Chapel Hill.

It took me more than two decades to become aware of this recurring seasonal phenomenon. Ten years ago, while driving into town, I realized that the beautiful pale copper-brown leaves that had been clinging to the low horizontal branches of a grove of beech trees the evening before were suddenly absent, having overnight carpeted the forest floor. That morning 10 years ago was April 1, an easy date to remember. I was so intrigued by that observation that I made a mental note to be acutely watchful of the lingering beech tree leaves in future years to determine whether or not an April 1 overnight dropping of beech leaves is one of those actions to anticipate as regularly as the return of the swallows or that reappearance of the hummingbird with the opening of the first columbine flower.

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By Erica Eisdorfer

Recently, NPR’s Terry Gross commented to The New York Review of Books that it’s hard to interview writers who say they’re motivated by the urge to “tell stories.” She says that very often that’s all there is. They’re full up; they spill. If they’re talented enough, we read. In Sacred Games, the enormous new novel by Vikram Chandra, we read compulsively, unable to put the book down.

Sacred Games was preceded by the sort of respectful excitement in the industry that indicates that while the book’s a page-turner, it’s very, very smart and will require smart and patient readers, and thus the readership isn’t guaranteed. The novel thrills (an important thread of the story pits Hindu and Muslim mafia dons against each other), but will the heightened feeling alone keep us reading? Will we have the fortitude to handle the political history, the religious philosophy, the massive information of Sacred Games? Not to worry. Once you open it, it owns you.

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True to Community

The best compliment I can give to The Carrboro Citizen, for its first issue, is that it is truly “community.” In an age of increasing media fragmentation of local interest, The Citizen shows that it intends to cover what’s significant for everybody in its community. I have lived in Chapel Hill all my life, edited and published a predecessor semi-weekly in Carrboro for five years (1954-59) and believe I was dedicated to this same mission. I am confident you will be even more successful and fulfill your “community” mission.

Roland Giduz
Chapel Hill

Parts of story were fabricated

The story in the March 7 Carrboro Commons headlined “Patrolling in the Passenger Seat,” by Nick Sotolongo, detailing a ride-along with Carrboro Police Officer Paul Reinas, contained some story elements that were fabricated. Academic disciplinary action has been taken, and the Commons apologizes to Officer Reinas, the Carrboro Police Department, the readers of the Commons, as well as to the readers of The Carrboro Citizen, which reprinted the story in its March 21 inaugural edition.

Jock Lauterer
Faculty Adviser
The Carrboro Commons

The family of Doris Lohr Mabe Wood, 80, would like to celebrate her peaceful passing on March 24, 2007 in Virginia Beach, VA.

Doris was a homemaker and proud of her years of service as a school bus driver for the City of Chesapeake, VA. Doris was twice widowed; widow of James Lee Wood and previously of James Roy Mabe.

Doris was born to the late Hubert D. Lohr and Bercella Heilig Lohr of High Point. She was preceded in death by her son, Skeeter L. Wood; two sisters, Mary McCasland and Margaret Skeeters; and two brothers, Dale and David Lohr.
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A story about a ride-along with Carrboro police contained sections that did not happen or happened on a different night.

The author of the story did not help police direct traffic as reported and an incident with a person who spray-painted a driveway took place on an earlier evening — not during the ride-along. The Citizen regrets the error. An apology about the story is in Letters to the Editor on Page 7.

The names of Board of Aldermen member Jacquie Gist’s and Yep Roc’s Tor Hansen were misspelled

The Orange County Assembly of Governments meets Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. The town boards of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough will meet with the Orange County Board of Commissioners. Here’s the agenda:

1) Sustainable economic development

a. Update on EDC strategic plan and overview of work plan for 2007-2008

b. Discussion of economic development throughout the county

2) Sustaining and maintaining affordable housing

3) Shearon Harris update

4) Future school site collaboration/placements/land-banking

You can find the full, 68-page version here (pdf).

This week in music March 28 through April 4
This week kicks off with a sold out Leo Kottke show at the ArtsCenter. Bet it was swell.
Irish Spring? Fresh on the heels of last week’s Solas show, the center’s Celtic Concert series concludes with Dervish on Thursday, March 29. The next night (that’s Friday, if you’ve already lost count), John Jorgenson promises to play the heck out of an acoustic guitar in that gypsy jazz style.

Please note that tickets are still around for Kid Koala’s show at the ArtsCenter.
At the Cat’s Cradle, the local highlight is the Saturday, March 31 release party for The Moaners’ new record, Blackwing Yalobusha. They’re joined by Spider Bags and Un Deux Trois. Big names from out of town headed to the Cradle this week are Ted Leo and the Pharmacists returning on Friday, March 30 and the original Sebadoh playing on Wednesday, April 4. Add to that a Hip Hop show on Thursday, March 29 featuring Virginia Beach’s Clipse with Durham’s Kaze and Free Bass 808; and the return of the Electric Six with Test Your Reflex and Night Kills the Day.

Over in the West End, the week at Local 506 starts with The Black Angels and Vietnam on Wednesday, followed by two CD release shows by Sons with Calico Haunts and Heather McIntyre on Thursday, March 29; and Eyes to Space on Friday. Saturday features Boxbomb, Barbarella and Slow Motion Crash.

Over at The Reservoir, there’s a Tuesday, April 3 show featuring Giant Squid, Grayceon and Tooth.

Down the street at The Cave, it’s a big weekend with Regina Hexaphone and Casados on Friday, Big Fat Gap playing Saturday and a three-band mashup on Sunday with Can Joann, Jaguar Club and The Manics.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners meets Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. The top item on the agenda this week is the consideration of the solid waste transfer station. Here’s the full agenda:

Note: Background Material on all abstracts available in the Clerk’s Office

COMPLIANCE WITH THE “AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT” - Interpreter services and/or special sound equipment are available with prior notice. If you need this assistance, call the County Clerk’s office at 732-8181, ext. 2130. If you are disabled and need assistance, contact the ADA Coordinator at extension 2300 or TDD# 644-3045.

ESTIMATED TIMES LISTED AFTER EACH ITEM - these are approximate times. Citizens are encouraged to be at the meeting at the starting time. The Board usually considers items in the order listed and proceeds at a steady pace. As a courtesy to others, speakers are asked to limit their comments to three minutes.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON AGENDA ITEMS - is available in the Clerk’s office and complete copies of agenda material are located at the Orange County Library in Hillsborough and the Chapel Hill Library in Chapel Hill.

1. Additions or Changes to the Agenda

2. Public Comments

(We would appreciate you signing the pad ahead of time so that you are not overlooked.)

a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda

b. Matters on the Printed Agenda

(These matters will be considered when the Board addresses that item on the agenda below.)

3. Board Comments

4. County Manager’s Report

5. Items for Decision–Consent Agenda

a. Minutes

The Board will consider correcting and/or approving the minutes from February 12, 20 and March 1, 2007 as submitted by the Clerk to the Board.

b. Appointments More »

Here’s the agenda for the Board of Aldemen meeting for March 27:

1. Public Hearing on the Temporary Street Closing Permit Application for the Carrboro Classic Duathlon
   • Additional Agenda Item Attachment
2. Public Hearing on a Conditional Use Permit Request for the Morgan Glen Subdivision
   • Additional Agenda Item Attachment
3. Public Hearing on a Draft Ordinance that Establishes a Six-Month Development Moratorium in Carrboro’s Northern Study Area
   • Additional Agenda Item Attachment

Warning: Former Egyptians frontman Robyn Hitchcock is coming to town Friday, and he can steal your girlfriend if he wants. The guy does it all – singer, songwriter, guitarist, abstract artist, short-story writer and thespian. Hitchcock will be joined onstage at the Cat’s Cradle by the Venus 3: R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, the Young Fresh Fellows bassist Scott McCaughey and drummer Bill Rieflin of Ministry. The band – which, as Hitchcock points out, is also “3/4ths of the Minus 5 and half of R.E.M” – is on tour promoting its 2006 release, Ole Tarantula.
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The Moaners’ new release, Blackwing Yalobusha, is already gathering the group a splendid set of review as the duo, just back from a trip south that included Austin, New Orleans and Hattiesburg, get ready for their release party at Cat’s Cradle.

For the record, out this month on Yep Roc, guitarist Melissa Swingle and drummer Laura King traveled to the small house in Walter Valley, Mississippi where blues revival label Fat Possum once house its studios.

The sessions amid the ghosts in the heart of delta blues country were rockus as is the record that came out of them.
Mississippi Moan: The Making of Blackwing Yalobusha, a mini documentary of the trip south and the proceedings in the studio filmed by Yep Roc label chief Tor Hanson, is available on the Yep Roc site at http://yeproc.com/artist_info.php?artistId=958 or at The Moaners site at www.themoaners.com/
The release show for Blackwing Yalobusha is at Cat’s Cradle Saturday, March 31 at 9:30 p.m. Spider Bags and Un Deux Trois open. Tickets are $8.

By Frank Heath
Sports Columnist

If it’s mid-March and people around Carrboro aren’t thinking about basketball, something is wrong. But folks around this sleepy mill town are thinking about hoops, which can mean but one thing — the UNC men’s basketball team is still in the NCAA Tournament, so all is right.

This truth comes courtesy of what I’ve taken to referring to as the “Ty and Tyler Show,” named for Carolina’s sizzling inside-outside duo of Tywon Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough.
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Most state Emergency Medicaid spending funds childbirth and pregnancy-related complications for uninsured women, emergency care for sudden-onset problems and end-stage complications of chronic conditions, says a new study from researchers at the university and the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence.

According to the study, Emergency Medicaid spending, which represents about one percent of the state’s Medicaid budget, increased 28 percent, from $41.3 million in 2001 to $52.9 million in 2004. Emergency Medicaid reimburses hospitals for emergency care provided to patients who would otherwise qualify for Medicaid but are ineligible because federal law excludes undocumented and legal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for less than five years. According to the Government Accountability Office, states with high immigration rates have seen a rapid increase in Emergency Medicaid spending.
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