Editor’s note:
Following are remarks by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from Sunday’s university commencement at Kenan Stadium, which was attended by some 28,000 people. The University Registrar has estimated 5,481 expected graduates: 3,039 bachelor’s, 1,314 master’s, 397 doctoral and 731 professional degrees and certificates. Among those receiving honorary degrees were Albright, two-time Nobel Prize winner H. Jack Geiger, Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Wilson Riley and Dean Smith, basketball coach and mentor.

From Albright’s speech:

“Today is a day of joy and for anticipating the future with optimism, yet in our high spirits we cannot help but be conscious of shadows. Closest to home is the knowledge that tragedy is inseparable from life. This past March, you lost an irreplaceable member of your class. We all feel the absence of Jason Ray. More broadly, around our country and around our world, we mourn the loss of innocent lives to hurricanes, tsunamis, disease and — as the horror at Virginia Tech reminds us — the demons that sometimes infect the human mind.”

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By Dan Coleman

One of the most important aspects of the job of the aldermen is the annual review of the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The budget document is 260 pages (find it on the message board page at www.townofcarrboro.org), providing line-item detail for every department.

As The Citizen reported on May 3, the proposed budget has a tax increase of 2.86 cents, $57 for a $200,000 home. It is important for citizens concerned about tax rates to understand the factors that contribute to the budget, the constraints affecting the board and the current limitations on expanded spending.

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By Kirk Ross

Number crunching
Word out of the State Ethics Commission offices this week that unlike Ivory Snow, 99 and 44/100ths won’t do.

“I’m accepting 100 percent, it’s just a matter of when that happens,” Kathleen Edwards, assistant director and compliance chief for the commission said this week when asked how many of the state’s roughly 4,300 officials she expects to comply with new disclosure rules.

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 Yield to pedestrians

My wife and I live in the historic mill district of Carrboro. One of the charms of Carrboro, and the reason it’s such a nice place to live, is because of its pedestrian-friendly downtown.  Motorists in downtown understand this and give right-of-way to pedestrians as they cross the street. This courtesy if often not extended, however, to the crosswalk on N. Greensboro Street at Southern States. I know that this crosswalk is often used by residents in my neighborhood as they head downtown, yet cars rarely stop to allow people to cross the street. Indeed, sometimes they don’t even slow down. I think the town should install a yellow pedestrian traffic cone at this crosswalk, much like the ones on Weaver Street and Greensboro at the Century Center, to remind motorists that pedestrians have the right-of-way when crossing the street.

Douglas Buchacek
Carrboro

By Moses Carey, Jr.

A topic of much discussion in the current 2007 General Assembly session and here in Orange County has been a possible land-transfer tax for all 100 North Carolina counties. But what is a land-transfer tax?

A land-transfer tax is a tax that would be paid when a property owner sells a home, commercial property or vacant land to another party. Six counties in North Carolina — Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Pasquotank and Perquimans — already have a land-transfer tax and have experienced no negative effects from it.

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 By Neil Pedersen

The 2007-08 operating budget is the fifteenth budget that I have prepared, and promises to be the most challenging of all. There are no surprises or expenditures that we did not anticipate. Our fund balance is healthy. The proposed increase in our budget is not out of line with budgets in the past. What is different this year is that the county commissioners have given direction to their new county manager, Laura Blackmon, to prepare a budget that will not require a tax increase to support the operating budgets of the county and two school systems. They are taking this position after increasing the county property taxes significantly the past two years and in response to citizens who attended public hearings last year asking for tax relief.  They also understand that property taxes will need to be increased by approximately 3.5 cents next year just to service the growing debt incurred from capital projects for the county and schools. Furthermore, this scenario will likely play out again next year when debt service peaks; therefore, this financial crunch cannot be viewed as a one-time event that will go away.

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By Frank Heath
Sports Columnist

It can be difficult for fans of college basketball — especially around these parts, where the natural rivalries are so entrenched — to warm up to pro hoops and the NBA. But when the playoffs are in swing, as now, some among us can’t help but try.

Of course it doesn’t hurt when there are a couple of former Carolina guys playing for contenders, as there are now, with Rasheed Wallace and Vince Carter; and it goes without saying that it was easier still to motivate for the playoffs back during the 1990s when Michael Jordan and the Bulls were blitzing the league to the tune of six championships. Leading up to that, James Worthy’s years with Magic and the Lakers in the mid-to-late ‘80s were a fun ride as well.

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Retired UNC-CH Professor, Richard Duncan Settle died May 11, 2007 of complications related to Alzheimer’s.

Richard was born in Waupun, Wisconsin on April 27, 1932 to the late Nellie and Russell Settle. Upon completing his bachelor’s degree at Kansas State University in 1953, Richard served three years in Germany during the Korean War as a medical technician.
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John Edward Threlfall, M.D., 67, of Falls Church, VA, died of renal failure in May 8, 2007 in Durham, NC.

Dr. Threlfall was born in Lancaster, UK and was a BA graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University and London Hospital Medical College, M.B., B
Chir.

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Tracy Lynn Carr Baldwin, 38, of Chapel Hill died Saturday, May 12, 2007 at her home.

Tracy was born in Columbia, SC, graduating from Irmo High School. She attended North Carolina State University and graduated from Meredith College, Raleigh, NC in 1997, majoring in History. Since graduation Tracy worked in the Chapel Hill area in the computer technology field.

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Smoke from the wildfires in South Georgia has migrated to the area, causing a slight haze and smoke smell.

The National Weather Service in Raleigh said a smoke plume from the wildfires spread across central North Carolina  early today because of a cold front and strong southwesterly winds. As it gets hotter throughout the day, the smoke should lift higher into the atmosphere and become less concentrated, according to the National Weather Service.

People with asthma or other breathing conditions should limit their outdoor exposure today, the National Weather Service said.