By Cody Braun
Courtesy of the Carrboro Commons

The night before the Carrboro Music Festival ten years ago, Gerry Williams was scared.
“Lots of professionals said we couldn’t do it,” the music festival’s creator and organizer says. Despite this advice, Williams went forward with the project, which he says has been a great success.

“The next day, I was so happy,” he says. “I was taking down banners, and people were driving by and honking, saying ‘I had a great time yesterday.’”

The festival, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary September 30, has changed significantly since that first year.

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By Valarie Schwartz

Robin Vail and I both did our parts for me to attend a Footnotes Tap Ensemble rehearsal before its upcoming show Saturday, but we could not know that someone would lock me out of the dance studio. With sore knuckles (from much fruitless banging on the door), I write this with assistance from memory of my first introduction to the group’s energetic performances several years ago.

These dancers know how to tap their way inside a person’s soul; maybe because their passion for dance runs so deep. Footnotes Tap Ensemble, formed in 2002, is the only professional nonprofit dance troupe in the Triangle. The 12-members include a medical doctor, bio-researcher, graphic artist, kindergarten teacher and others from all walks of life.

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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The school budget process could run a little more smoothly next year under changes proposed by school officials.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education will consider changes to the annual budget process tonight (Thursday). The school board will present anticipated budget drivers and the budget process timeline to the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday.

“We’re trying to get better information to the county commissioners before they hold their winter retreat and make any preliminary decisions about the direction that the budget will take next year,” Superintendent Neil Pedersen said.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Loitering, drinking, public unrination and crude and offensive comments to female passers-by have sparked a crackdown at a site on the corner of Jones Ferry Road and Davie Road routinely used by day laborers.

Neighbors have long complained that the corner across Davie Road from the Kangaroo Express convenience store has become the scene of day and night congregation and that the actions of those there have gotten out of hand.

Town officials met with 30 residents of the area in late July.
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The Chatham County Utilities Department has announced “danger level” water restrictions will take effect in northeastern Chatham County on Monday.

Under the mandatory restrictions, nearly all uses of county water for lawns, grasses, groundcovers, landscaping, pools and car washes are banned until further notice.
Water customers violating restrictions will not receive a warning before penalties are issued, and first-time offenders will be fined $250. The second offense carries a fine of $500. The utility department will shut off water service for a third violation.

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Century Hall will host an event for Hispanic Heritage Month on Thursday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m. Excerpts from David Riker’s film La Ciudad will be shown, followed by a bilingual discussion facilitated by advocates Estefania San Juan (El Pueblo) and Dr. Luke Smith (El Futuro). This event is co-sponsored by Carrboro Cybrary, Carrboro Recreation & Parks Department, CHICLE, El Pueblo and Open Eye Café. For more information, call the Cybrary at 918-7387 or email cybrary@co.orange.nc.us.

The Women’s Center will hold its first-ever book sale on Saturday, September 22. The sale will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. indoors at the Women’s Center, 210 Henderson Street, Chapel Hill.

The sale was organized after the center received an anonymous donation of several hundred books. The sale includes rare and popular books in good condition, including first editions.
All proceeds from the sale will support the Women’s Center’s programs. The center’s mission is to “promote the individual and collective empowerment of the diverse community of women and girls in the Triangle.” The center provides financial, legal, career, adolescent and education support and referral services.

Police are calling for information about a shooting that occurred nearly a year ago. Around 1:40 a.m. the morning of November 1, 2006, the victims were walking on Merritt Mill Road when they were approached by two black men and a black woman. One of the individuals had a handgun. They hit the victims, searched them, stole a cell phone and walked off. It appeared that the suspects got into a gold or tan four-door car. There may have been another person waiting in the vehicle. As they drove past the victims, a passenger fired a weapon. One man was shot in the chest/shoulder area. As this case approaches its anniversary, police are once again seeking information from the public.

Work on water lines for the Southern Community Park will close at least one lane of Dogwood Acres Drive next week and limit sidewalk access along U.S. 15-501, Chapel Hill parks officials announced.

The waterline installation, which will also require one southbound lane of the highway to close for part of the day when the piping is delivered, will progress along Dogwood Acres Drive at the park and then along the sidewalk between the park and Southern Village.

The Sierra Club will sponsor a public forum for Chapel Hill Town Council and mayor candidates on Tuesday. The forum will focus on environmental issues and will be held at the Chapel Hill Town Hall on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at 7 p.m.

The League of Women Voters will sponsor an election forum Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. at Carrboro Town Hall for candidates for Carrboro mayor and alderman.

The league will host a forum for Chapel Hill mayor and town council candidates Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at Chapel Hill Town Hall.

By Frank Heath
Sports Columnist

Watching this evolving young UNC football team week by week reminds me slightly of a scene from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, where Mike Teavee decides he is going to transport himself over the television airwaves to the (slight) protestations of Mr. Wonka.
Each time Carolina’s red-shirt freshman quarterback T. J. Yates drops back and fires a pass, one can almost sense the million tiny particles of this team’s identity traveling through the air over the field. In the same way that the moviegoer fixed his or her gaze on the television screen waiting to see if Mike Teavee would arrive in one piece, you glance instinctively downfield to see which of Carolina’s three bounteously talented wide receivers may be curling off of his route to intersect with the ball’s trajectory. More often than not — at least as concerns the UNC passing game — the result thus far in 2007 has been a complete and full-sized version of young Mr. Teavee hopping off of the television screen. More »

Carrboro High
Men’s Soccer

(Via Romain Morales)
A strong Cardinal Gibbons team proved too much for the young Jaguars, as CG defeated CHS 5-0 Monday night. CHS held even possession for the first 25 minutes until giving up a soft goal. The aggressive CG team continued the pressure, but the CHS defensive backs (Ben Berozlheimer, Keith Dell and Keith Glassbrook) kept a one-goal differential at half that had morale high heading into the second half. CHS even managed a game total of 6 shots, easily played by the CG keeper, but CHS keeper Gus Brighton made his share, with 12 saves, until a weary defense let in another four goals.

Final: CHS 0, CG 5 (half: 0, 1)

Next game: Sept. 19 v NC School of Science and Math @ CHS (0-8-1)

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From 6 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29 to 6 a.m. the following day, local families will join scientists and natural historians for a BioBlitz – an inventory of animal and plant life – at Mason Farm Biological Reserve, part of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at UNC.

The BioBlitz – a joint project of the Botanical Garden and UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center – will allow researchers to assess the biodiversity of the reserve.
The 24-hour span is divided into smaller segments of time, so participants can register for one or several segments. Teams will work with scientists to collect data about the living organisms that live in the reserve and will learn to use professional research tools and techniques. Participation is free, but advance registration is encouraged.

The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s second annual Eastern Triangle Farm Tour will be held September 22 and 23.

The tour will visit 17 farms in the Triangle area from 1 to 5 p.m. both days. The farm tour kickoff will be held tonight (Thursday) at 6 at Whole Foods Market on Wade Avenue in Raleigh.

Cost is $30, $25 in advance, per car for all of the farms, or $10 per car per farm. Tickets may be purchased online, at the first farm visited or at Whole Foods Market on Elliott Road.

For more information or to purchase a ticket, visit www.carolinafarmstewards.org or call the association at 542-2402.

The record-breaking cookie events sponsored by Weaver Street Market and Immaculate Baking Company last weekend earned $2544 for the ArtsCenter — another possible record for a single bake sale item in support of the arts. Paul Borron won the drawing for Clyde Jones artwork donated for the event.