Rec league’s only girl is a force to be reckoned with

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Out on the baseball diamonds of the Carrboro Recreation and Parks league, amid a sea of teenage boys, perhaps it will surprise you to see a blonde ponytail poking out of a pitcher’s cap.

What certainly will surprise you is the rocket behind the arm of that young athlete.

Emily Boykin, 15, has been playing baseball with the boys since she was five years old. But each year, as she’s advanced through the various Carrboro leagues, she’s found herself with fewer female teammates.

In fact, for about the past five years now she’s been the only girl.

“Everybody thinks that it’s weird, but I’ve just gotten used to it,” Boykin said. It helps that the guys on her team don’t seem to treat her any differently.

More »

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

A perceived shift in the university’s mission at Carolina North along with concerns about housing at the new campus and its impact on regional transportation has officials and residents now asking why the rush to finish a plan this fall.

At a Monday night forum sponsored by several environmental and grassroots neighborhood groups, Chapel Hill Town Council member Bill Strom told a crowd of about 100 he’s worried that a timetable that would have a plan before the council by October is too compressed.

Strom said the project is far too big and the university’s request for development of a new zone for the 970-acre parcel too complicated to do well under the current schedule.

“This artificial deadline is compromising our ability to do a good job as regulators,” he said.

More »

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

With another budget season in full swing, the Board of County Commissioners, school officials and parents alike are calling for a better way to negotiate the annual school budgets.

At two recent public hearings, more than 100 county residents spoke in support of raising taxes to fully fund the school budgets.

Then, at the Tuesday night county commissioners’ meeting, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen and Orange County Schools Superintendent Shirley Carraway outlined potential cuts the school systems would have to make with the proposed level of funding. Both superintendents have warned that the school systems will not be able to continue the same level of service with the funding recommended in this year’s proposed budget.

While some parents at the public hearings spoke in favor of simply raising taxes to fully fund the schools, others emphasized a need to revise the budget process in order to alleviate the stress created by the annually recurring fear that the schools will be underfunded. More »

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen sent its final set of budget recommendations to Town Manager Steve Stewart, adding a health care stipend for part-time workers and rejecting a compromise over fees for the Town Commons.

fter lengthy discussions at Town Hall Tuesday night, the board agreed to add a $1,500 stipend for its seven part-time employees. Several board members said they did not feel they could support adding the employees to the town’s insurance, something Stewart had warned might make it difficult in future health care plan negotiations.

Alderman Joal Hall Broun said she reluctantly supported the stipend, but would have preferred that it be done in the context of an overall look at the town’s benefits package.
Alderman Jacquie Gist said she felt the issue was too important to not do something.

The addition, which will cost the town about $10,500 annually, could add roughly one-tenth of a cent to the proposed 2.86-cent tax increase. The increase would mean an additional $58 on the annual tax bill for a $200,000 home.

The board approved the plan on a 4 to 3 vote with aldermen John Herrera, Joal Hall Broun and Alex Zaffron voting against adding the stipend.
The other major sticking point in the budget — changing the fees for registering to use the Town Commons — was unresolved by night’s end, leaving the prospect that the current system will stay intact and leaving supporters of the Really Free Market contemplating their next move. More »

Thanks to OWASA

The Orange County Board of Health would like to express its appreciation to OWASA for its commitment to ensuring that their customers have safe drinking water.  Following a recent lead investigation involving a few buildings at UNC, OWASA offered to test all customers’ tap water for lead at no charge.  Exposure to high levels of lead can lead to serious health consequences for children and pregnant women.

OWASA’s collaboration with UNC as it investigated possible sources for lead in the water in some of their buildings was swift and thorough.  The follow-up community initiative to test for lead in water and to further examine how disinfection processes can be improved to prevent lead leaching is an outstanding example of excellence in public health practice.  OWASA’s discoveries in this area and the application of any needed changes in treatment will help improve best practices across the state.
We are indeed fortunate to have a public water utility that goes above and beyond what is required to serve our residents and protect the public’s health.   We applaud OWASA’s staff and board .

Matthew Vizithum, Chair
Orange County Board of Health

Grannies out of line

The Ragin’ Grannies are way out of line here. How dare they use Memorial Day as a day when they try and get their political points across? It’s a slap in the face to the men and women who serve this country and to the families of the men and women who have lost their lives fighting for this country. Memorial Day is about remembering those who lost their lives for this country. You don’t have to support the war to remember the fallen soldiers.

This is no different than the BOA having a Misael Martinez Day in Carrboro in remembrance of a fallen soldier and then, in the same meeting, call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops in Iraq.

STOP using days when we remember fallen soldiers as a time for politicking!!!!

John Avery
Durham

Illiberally sprinkled

Last week marked the official beginning of hurricane season, and as if on cue, within the day, two tropical storms had made landfall — one on the Pacific coast of Mexico, while the other, Barry, landed at Tampa Bay, crossed the Florida peninsula and headed back out into the Atlantic for a weekend tour of the Carolina coastal plain.

The rains brought by Barry, close to three inches in some parts of the Piedmont, were welcome and lushed up some flagging green spaces for a while.

Nice as it was to get some precipitation, even a heavy rain like that didn’t slow down the march of drought across the state.

In our westernmost mountains, the situation is already critical, with the worry over widespread forest fires growing.

For ourselves and the growing municipalities around us, the worry is about the water supply, low flows in the creeks, a drop in the water table and rapidly draining reservoirs. Officially, for now we’re in a moderate drought.

Drought well indicators in Orange County show levels below the mean. And lake levels at University Lake and Cane Creek Reservoir are starting to drop. More »

By Chris Fitzsimon
Columnist

Final approval of the Senate budget came Thursday morning with no discussion. That was guaranteed yesterday when Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand moved to cut off debate for both days.

The next round of the budget battle comes as House and Senate leaders try to work out the differences between their respective spending plans, and there is plenty to negotiate, starting with the Senate decision to insist on cutting taxes by $300 million and rejecting House plans to provide targeted tax relief to the working poor with an Earned Income Tax Credit. More »

By Kirk Ross
Columnist

Way sneaky
This has been a hard stretch to follow, but as near as I can tell, state Senate leaders have cleverly cornered GOP legislators by putting together a budget that offers up a nice range of tax breaks for high earners and businesses while underfunding soft-hearted issues like health care for kids. Nearly every GOP senator took the bait, which proved so tempting that when the bill got back to the House there was a stampede of elephants crossing the aisle.

House Minority Leader Skip Stam said he thought it was probably the best deal the party could get and urged support, setting up one of the more interesting concurrence votes the legislature has seen, along with the prospect that for the first time a governor might veto a budget bill.
At press time, House Dems were promising to stand firm, setting up, well, the usual budget process, which involves a giant committee, quiet promises and lots of pizza and Char-Grill burgers. More »

Thursday June 7
Cat’s Cradle: EL-P featuring DJ Mr. Dibbs and The Mighty Quin with Hangar 18, Yak Ballz, Slow Suicide Stimulus 9:30pm. $14 advance
The Cave: Early: David Era. Late: The Honored Guests, The Empties
Weaver Street Market: Carolina Chocolate Drops

Friday June 8
Bynum Front Porch Series: The Bluegrass Experience
Cat’s Cradle: Bombadil, Bus, Modern Skirts 9pm. $6
The Cave: Early: $5 Valorie Miller. Late: Ann Humphreys w/ Sweet By & By
Local 506: New Years Day, William Tell, Everybody Else, Five Cent Wing 8:30pm. $10
Open Eye Café: Nikki Talley
Southern Village: North Carolina Symphony, 8pm More »

The second “Potluck in a Pasture” summer supper will be held Sunday, June 17, from 6-8 p.m. at Holly Hill Daylily Farm in Moncure.

ChathamArts sponsors the series of suppers, which take place every third Sunday of each month this summer. Participants can tour the hosting farm and meet local artists.

Visitors are asked to bring a potluck dish for eight that includes at least one locally grown ingredient as well as a beverage, lawn chair or blanket and $10 for adults ($8 for members) and $5 for children over 6.

Proceeds benefit ChathamArts, a nonprofit county arts council that supports diverse arts and cultural programs in the schools and the community.
For more information or directions to the supper, visit www.chathamarts.org or call (919) 219-9840.

The finishing touches on Mike Bensen’s new Southern Rail are not that far away, now that the steel frame connecting the two railroad cars is in place. If you’ve traveled through downtown Carrboro recently, you might have seen the frame lowering trusses into place. The structure will bridge the two railroad cars.

Bensen, a Chapel Hill native who own St. Ex in Washington D.C., says he’s not that far from opening. Interior work on the cars proceeds as well.
Inside the westernmost coach, there’s a new mural of a diver and a giant squid next to the words, “Scenic University Lake sustainable food source.” At the rear of the car, there’s still an old mural from the cars’ past, a mural for the Carrboro Cosmos soccer team.

By Ken Moore
Columnist

Walking and driving through the downtown and old neighborhoods of Carrboro is a real treat.

There are so many wonderful and colorful gardens that reflect an unbelievable diversity of imagination, horticultural expertise and a dedication to gardening in an environmentally friendly manner. One of my favorite such gardens is Pete Lucey’s curbside garden at the curved intersection of Pleasant and North Greensboro streets. For years, I have watched that garden mature and make a show of color and plant architectural interest in all the seasons. It is truly a “xeriscape” garden. Ten years ago, Pete planted drought-resistant species of perennials and grasses, carefully “watered them in” during the first year, and for the past nine years they have survived and multiplied on the site with only the water provided by nature. That curbside was downright spectacular with its oranges and pinks last week before the rainfall.

Also, I enjoy watching the busy routines of Carrboro’s Public Works landscape staff moving in and around the town carefully tending their garden beds, actually hand-extracting unwanted weeds, hand-pruning the roses, carefully pruning the town’s trees and shrubs and, during dry periods, effectively hand-watering from truck-mounted water tanks.

Thank you, Carrboro and citizens of old neighborhoods, for giving us reason to be proud.
And thank you, thank you, whatever spirit and forces, for our weekend of rain. It is a challenge now for us to stay seriously concerned about our drought conditions. That rainfall was ample for only the very short term. We need that weekly rainfall, at least an inch per week, throughout the growing season for the vigor of our native forests as well as our vegetable production and ornamental landscapes, not to mention that 4th of July blackberry harvest.

In spite of the rain, the drought continues. Don’t be surprised by the return to dry yards and gardens by week’s end. Recommendations for xeriscape gardening will be more frequent than usual. But don’t be misled about the concept. The idea of xeriscape ideally promotes responsible (the overused terms environmental and sustainable are frequently used here) gardening by designing landscapes, planting plants and creating special garden plots that can be maintained by the natural resources of the physical site and climatic conditions or with minimal and carefully applied supplemental watering during the first year of establishment. Be like Pete Lucey. It should be evident that the establishment and maintenance of emerald green turf in such areas as the dunes of coastal Carolina homes and the countless square miles of green turf covering the desert region of Phoenix, Arizona are inappropriate and glaringly contrary to responsible gardening.

Sadly, the xeriscape concept has been recruited as a grand promotional scheme by the irrigation industry. The well-intentioned gardener, homeowner and urban and corporate landscape supervisor are all advised that a well-designed automated irrigation system is required for the survival of their landscapes. It is declared that irrigation systems guarantee that plants get the water they need when they require it and this is generally once a week – frequently, daily. This is described as responsible (i.e., environmental, sustainable) watering.

We are steered away from realizing that in nature plants and whole landscapes can survive long periods without rainfall. The great diversity of irrigation options from homeowner-designed and -installed trickle-and-drip hose systems to highly elaborate, computer-automated, professionally designed and installed mist and overhead impact systems are designed to turn plants and landscapes into “water addicts” far from the true meaning of xeriscape. Frequent shallow watering results in shallow root growth and thus the plants become addicted to frequent watering. Slow, deep watering, evident when there is no water runoff, encourages deep root growth; and with well-established deep roots, all plants are better conditioned to survive droughts.

Daily observations of typical irrigation systems operating in our community include: water streaming off of well-watered sidewalks and roadways into adjoining storm drains rather than settling into the root zones of plants in need; clouds of fine mists carried off by gentle breezes away from the intended plants; and perhaps most disgusting are the frequent sprinkler systems throwing out water at full throttle during periods of natural rainfall. My complaint to the manager of one local bank about the huge lawn being watered during a downpour was met with the response: “Oh, our landscape contractor has the irrigation system on a timer and we can’t do anything about it.” Such systems seem to be justified with accompanying signage: “We use well water to irrigate.” Whether private wells or our public water resource, all the water comes from our region’s waterways and the underground water resource. We should not be wasting our precious water resources as storm water runoff, especially keeping acres and acres of grass green during droughts. Have any of you noticed how green all those unwatered, brown lawns following the recent rain have turned? Now I may be able to appreciate keeping a small plot of turf green as a special feature in a garden, if a grassy plot is held as special as flowering plants, but keeping acres and acres of lawn areas green by supplemental watering during droughts is sadly reflective of our society’s general disregard for living responsibly.

After many years of observing multitudes of irrigation systems, I freely admit that I have an intense disregard for such mechanized technology. They are expensive, inefficient, wasteful and require constant repairs and maintenance vigilance. The only dependable irrigation system is a thoughtful gardener on the end of a hose. This singular watering system will insure that needed water does not flow away from the intended plants, but is applied slowly around plants, encouraging deep root growth. Be observant next time you water; if you see water flowing away over the soil surface, it’s not helping your plants and you need to correct your watering technique.

As a responsible citizen, you have great influence. On the home front, you can began by designing a drought-tolerant landscape, selectively watering stressed plants by hand from water collected in rain barrels and, most importantly, when you see an irrigation system performing wastefully – i.e., water flowing off streets and sidewalks and operating during rainfalls, go inside and let the manager or homeowner know that they are wasting our water! Go ahead, you can do it – and enough of us expressing ourselves will make some meaningful waves!

Longtime resident Ken Moore retired as assistant director of the N.C. Botanical Garden in 2003 and now enjoys part-time work and volunteering in and around Carrboro and Chapel Hill.

By Frank Heath
Columnist

Once upon a time, the North Carolina football team was known around the world for its running game.

Year in and out, if the Tar Heels could depend upon doing one thing very well, it was rushing the football. During the 1970s and 1980s, and for parts of the ’90s, no school ran better or more consistently.

A series of backs that included guys like Don McCauley, Mike Voight, Amos Lawrence, Kelvin Bryant and Ethan Horton — and that’s only to name a few — donned the light blue as freshmen or sophomores and burned brightly across the Kenan Stadium stage to the tune of 100-and-200-plus-yard games and 1,000-yard seasons. Three or four years — and 3,000-plus rushing yards — down the road, they would pass the baton, or in this case the football, to an heir apparent who was poised to do the same. More »

By Erica Eisdorfer
Columnist

A happy childhood does not a good memoir make. This isn’t an original thought, and it’s probably true. It may also be a fact that the worse your childhood, the better the book. Someone else’s trauma often makes for zesty reading.

Meredith Hall’s Without a Map is, as writer Ivan Doig says, “bone-honest.” I’ll say. Bony seems like exactly the right word for this book. More »