Whether it’s held indoors at the Century Center or outside at Town Commons, Sunday May 6 is Carrboro Day — the annual toast to the town sponsored by the Carrboro Recreation & Parks Department.

The music starts at 12:30 p.m. and runs along with the festivities until 6 p.m. In addition to music, storytelling and poetry readings, the Carrboro Community Garden Club is hosting a plant exchange from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. and the Friends of the Library are holding a bake goods sale along with a used book sale from 12:45 to 5 p.m.

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A fictional account of the chartering of venable

By Catherine DeVine

The published histories of Carrboro’s establishment as a town apart from Chapel Hill place all of the action at the West End train station and the prosperous textile mill adjacent to it. We know that Julian Shakespeare Carr bought the mill from Thomas Lloyd, who died the same year the town was incorporated as Venable in 1911. The fact of Thomas Lloyd’s illiteracy appears in all accounts. I invented his helper. —Catherine DeVine

They were all dressed up that day, even the clerks. The University had dispatched a young man with a camera, and a rumor started early that he was trotting up to the West End with President Venable himself. Whether or not the President wanted his picture made at the train station, there was a freshly painted sign out there waiting for him to smile beside: “Venable, North Carolina.” The young man with the camera would make the most of that.

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Flowing hummocks of clover filling the highway median south of town. Photo by Ken Moore

By Ken Moore

“Grass is the most abused of all plants!” decried Steve Warner, a cherished older friend of mine, an Ohio landscape architect who many years ago retired down on a farm on the White Oak River near Swansboro. Part of his property is now a streamside nature trail of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. Steve was a lively, talkative and very opinionated individual whose life experiences gave him credibility as he worked hard to protect the wild nature of our landscapes. I remember him describing to me his response, soon after settling in coastal Carolina, to the sincere question: “Steve, when did you become an ‘environmentalist’?”

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Suzanne Kennedy (left) and Sara Beaman perform a sword dance while Amy-Jae Rignola Crawford looks on during “The Rite of Spring,” a performance at Forest Theater by the Devoted Bellydance Collective. The collective held two shows last weekend to benefit the Orange County Rape Crisis Center and the to aid the Arbor Day Foundation’s efforts to replace trees lost in Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Kirk Ross

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen received twin budget proposals Tuesday night, one with no tax increase and another with a plan for raising the tax rate by 2.86 cents, a hike of slightly more than 4.5  percent.

In presenting his proposal, Town Manager Steve Stewart noted that the town has avoided a tax increase three out of the last four years.

“As you know, I am very concerned about our property tax burden,” Stewart said. With an eye on the overall tax burden, including county and school district taxes, he wanted to keep any increase in the town’s rate low and also provide a no-increase option.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

With a new lease agreement with the university and the state worked out, plans are moving forward for a new northern fire station, including a design charrette this month to seek public input.

Tuesday night, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen heard a review of the plans so far and gave representatives from the fire department and the architectural firm Stewart-Cooper-Newell the green light to hold the design charrette. Carrboro Fire Chief Travis Crabtree said he hopes to schedule at least one charrette this month to get the project rolling.

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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

This Thursday, for perhaps the final time this year, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education will revisit redistricting and consider a plan that would move nearly 500 students to a new elementary school when it opens in the fall of 2008.

The board is redistricting in order to move students to the new school, which will be located at the corner of Dromoland Road and Eubanks Road. School officials have recommended a revised plan that would move 1,078 students to different elementary schools, including 474 to the new school, which has yet to be named but has been dubbed Elementary No. 10 by school officials.

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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County schools superintendents Neil Pedersen and Shirley Carraway warned that the school districts could see major cuts if they don’t receive funds requested in their annual budgets.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County boards of education met with the Board of County Commissioners on Monday night for a joint work session.

The Board of County Commissioners has said it hopes to limit this year’s tax increase to equal the amount of debt-service payment increases. The county’s annual debt payments equal about $23.4 million  — $17.6 million for school facilities and $5.8 million for county facilities, according to county budget director Donna Coffey.

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By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

Carrboro lifelong resident and longtime community activist John D. Boone Jr. died last Saturday at UNC Hospitals. He was 78.

Boone had retired as head of the purchasing department at UNC. He was a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen from 1972 to 1987and also served as mayor pro tem. He was a member of the Carrboro Auxiliary Police and the Orange County Rescue Squad, was president of the Lion’s Club and was very active in his church, Carrboro United Methodist. He was named citizen of the year by the Jaycees and the Exchange Club and was awarded the 2003 Village Pride Award by WCHL-AM.

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New solar-powered signal lights were installed last week at Ephesus Elementary School on Ephesus Church Road and at Estes Hills Elementary and Phillips Middle schools on Estes Drive. The town also plans to install lights at Culbreth Middle School.

The improvements are funded with $21,000 of sidewalk and street improvement bonds approved by voters in 2003.

The solar-powered flashing lights help to enhance the awareness of drivers when traveling near schools and are activated during the morning and afternoon hours on school days.

The Chapel Hill Police Department is investigating a string of residential burglaries in the West Cameron Avenue area. Incidents include:

• Someone entered the residence at 210 Ransom St. through the front door on April 20 at 6:32 a.m., but left without taking anything when the resident called out.
• Between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on April 20, someone entered the residence at 212 Vance St. through a basement door and stole a Sony Playstation, camera, alcoholic beverages and a small suitcase.

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At its meeting Tuesday night, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen recommended that the county approve the appointment of Margo Lester as Carrboro’s representative to the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

The board also approved the appointments of Carly Apple, Mary Rabinowitz and Ryan Elting to the town’s Environmental Advisory Board.

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