Photo courtesy of Carrboro Film Festival

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

From the looks of Chapel Hill filmmaker Todd Tinkham’s latest project, you’d think he’s been in the movie-making business for decades.

But Tinkham — whose short film will be shown in the second annual Carrboro Film Festival — has spent most of his life working with at-risk kids and didn’t start making films until a couple of years ago.

“My parents died when I was around 40, and they were great people, but they never lived the life they wanted,” Tinkham said. “They never lived their dreams.”

“I’d always wanted to write and direct films,” he continued. “What was I waiting for?”

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Four generations of the family have kept the locally owned, service-focused lumber and hardware store in Carrboro thriving.

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Doesn’t look 100, maybe more middle-aged, still sporting a kind of ‘70s look.
But there’s a lot more to Fitch Lumber than the familiar mod logo on the front of the building that sits across Greensboro Street from Carr Mill. There’s a spirit there that’s kept an independent, family-run enterprise in business for a century now. On Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon, the company is sharing some of that spirit with a celebration yard sale (along with free hot dogs).

In his office just off the main order area, Mac Fitch, president, says that unlike other small hardware and lumber companies Fitch has been lucky in part because of geography. Lowes and Home Depot moved into the area east of Chapel Hill, far enough away that Fitch’s center-of-Carrboro location remained convenient for a lot of customers.

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National studies and federal action cause changes in how environmental justice issues are determined and addressed

By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

Editor’s note: This story is the second in a series that will examine issues related to environmental justice and to the fight of the Rogers and Eubanks roads community to be relieved of what they allege to be an undue burden. To read the first story in this series and for other resources, go to www.carrborocitizen.com/main/rogers-road

On Nov. 5, the Orange County Board of Commissioners announced they were reopening the site search for a solid-waste transfer station. The commissioners had voted unanimously last March to place the station on Eubanks Road.

While this was but one of the demands made by the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism, the decision to reopen the search was, for the community, an essential step forward. This community alleges it has suffered the effects of public-policy decisions that reflect what Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, calls a “pattern” of environmental racism in underserved communities.

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By Valarie Schwartz

Kevin Brice could have complained.

It was Friday, the third of three days of rain we had in October.

He stood in a recently completed open-sided shelter containing four large picnic tables (made of recycled plastic).

A cold breeze blew the rain around him overlooking Cane Creek Reservoir and he looked cold in the clothes that would have been quite comfortable in his office as executive director of Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC).

Instead he said, “Whenever TLC is included in an outdoor event, it rains. We should have planned this months ago!”

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By Ken Moore

I believe we humans have lost the ability to step back and fully appreciate what we have around us. In the fall, folks look forward to the brilliant display of deciduous trees as the greens give way to an arsenal of other colors before the seasonal falling of leaves. And every year we try to plan vacations and family drives to western Carolina to enjoy “Peak Week.”

To assist us, staff of the Blue Ridge Parkway and regional tourist offices list predictions of “Peak Color” weeks at various elevations.

I’ve been trying to catch the “Peak Week” for decades. Each time, I am greeted with: “Oh, you should have been here last week!” or “You’ll have to come back up next week to catch the ‘peak.’” I believe I did catch the peak once, but it was hard to determine because of the fog and wind and rain. The colors of the leaves pressed against the windows of my truck were really spectacular.

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Stillhouse Bottom is an ecological singularity. The only undisturbed natural area of its kind in Orange County, it hosts a wide variety of plant and animal life along with centuries-old trees.

The North Carolina Botanical Garden is raising money to add 35 undeveloped acres of this special area to an already-preserved 17 acres.

The botanical garden will host a benefit concert at Stillhouse Bottom on Saturday, November 17, 2007 from 6-9 p.m. The Stillhouse Bottom Band, featuring fiddler A.C. Bushnell, will perform.

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