Photo by Kirk Ross

Photo by Kirk Ross.

Smith Middle School students went all out for water conservation at last weekend’s holiday parade. Dressed in bathrobes and shower caps and blowing bubbles and carrying banners reminding the community to conserve, the students provided a good-natured reminder that the drought is far from over.

By Ken Moore

Last week I received a call: “Ken, where can I find a deciduous holly for my wife for Christmas?” This small native tree is not commonly found in nurseries, but this time I had a happy answer.
Having recently dropped by the Carrboro Southern States to pick up the bow of 25 yards of red ribbon being donated for the town’s giant holiday wreath, I was stopped in my footsteps by a group of deciduous hollies in full berry there in the garden center.

Though holly fruit are correctly termed drupes, most of us call them berries, and these berries absolutely sparkled. Some of the tags on the various little trees were labeled “Sparkleberry,” one of several cultivars of deciduous hollies. The true deciduous holly, Ilex decidua, a single- to multi-trunk small tree, is commonly called Possum Haw. Now, who is going to get really excited about that name? I would like to know the story behind that one. Common in woods throughout the Piedmont and coastal plain, this little tree is thoughtlessly destroyed when forests are cleared for new residential development. Unlike the more familiar evergreen spiny-leaved American Holly, Ilex opaca, deciduous hollies are not readily noticed where they are so plentiful in our local woods.

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The Town of Carrboro and Orange County Recycling have adjusted their schedules for the holiday season.
Town offices will be closed in observance of the Christmas holiday on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 24-26. There will be no garbage  collection on these days. Garbage collection for businesses and households scheduled for  Monday and Tuesday will be collected  on Wednesday, Dec. 26. Those scheduled for Wednesday will see their garbage collected one day late, on Thursday, Dec. 27.

There will be no recycling services on Tuesday, Dec. 25. Tuesday’s recycling will be collected on Saturday, Dec. 29. Orange County Recycling will resume normal pick-up schedule on Wednesday, Dec. 26.

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Photo by Norman Barbee Sr.

By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

This story is the fourth in a series that examines 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 stories in this series and for other resources, go to www.carrborocitizen.com/main/rogers-road

Did Mike Nelson feel rotten when he voted in favor of placing a solid-waste transfer station on Eubanks Road?

“Oh, god, yes,” says Nelson, a member of the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

“I think it was difficult for almost everyone involved,” he says of the unanimous decision made by the board last March, a decision that has since been overturned after the community, led by the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism, intensified its efforts at bringing attention to what they believe to be an environmental injustice. After 35 years of having lived with the Orange County Landfill and all its attendant consequences, the Rogers-Eubanks community was unwilling to quietly accept this additional burden.

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The Board of County Commissioners agreed on Tuesday to consider a proposal by UNC to use county landfill gas to power the university’s Carolina North development.

Commissioners and county officials have said they would like to launch a possible gas-recovery project at the landfill as a way of reducing greenhouse gases. County staff last week had recommended that the commissioners request proposals from private firms as well as the university, but university officials said they would not bid against private firms.

Commissioners postponed a decision regarding the proposal process so that university and county officials could meet to discuss UNC’s possible proposal.

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By Valarie Schwartz

 “What improvements would you like to see in your community with respect to environmental stewardship, social equity and economic prosperity?”

The above question started a contagion of thought that, like the falling leaves, continues to rain upon our community. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber Foundation for a Sustainable Community posed the question as an essay contest for students of our three high schools. Three prizewinners — all students at Chapel Hill High School — were selected from the 50 entries.

The first- and second-place winners, Pete Singer and Julia Ganzi, respectively, both 15, are students of Thomas Greene, a native of Hickory, who’s in his first year of teaching civics/economics and world history. He saw the contest as an opportunity for his students to connect what they were learning in class with the nearby outside world and offered extra credit for students who entered.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Lee-Moore Oil Company, owners of a 63.3-acre parcel off U.S. 15-501 and Smith Level Road have started clearing and grading work on part of the property, but aren’t saying what they intend to do with it for now.
Chatham County Planning Director Keith Megginson said according to an erosion-control plan filed with the county, the company will clear roughly 20 acres along the section of the property nearest U.S. 15-501. But Megginson said he has yet to see a proposal for what might be constructed on the site.

The county has received a copy of a letter sent to Lee-Moore by state Department of Transportation engineers on requirements for a driveway at the Starpoint intersection across from the existing intersection of U.S. 15-501 and Smith Level Road.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The developer who lost out on a bid to build a shopping center with a new Harris Teeter on Jones Ferry Road is challenging a decision by the town to limit access to the development off Barnes Street.

NorthWest Properties Group, which had a contract on a 7.7-acre parcel owned by Calvin Mellott and used as a construction material yard, appealed the town’s actions in refusing a connection for patrons to the proposed Shoppes at Jones Ferry from Barnes Street.

The project was to include a 52,250-square-foot Harris Teeter, a 17,550-square-foot building that could house 11 shops and a 7,900-square-foot building that could house five shops. The plan also included roughly 350 parking spaces.

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UNC News Services

A statewide anti-smoking campaign reached significantly more youths across North Carolina between 2006 and 2007, and most kids are paying attention to the message, according to an evaluation by researchers in the UNC School of Medicine.

The evaluation found that awareness of the campaign — called “Tobacco. Reality. Unfiltered.” or “TRU” — increased from 54 percent of North Carolina youths in 2006 to 71 percent in 2007. The rise in awareness followed an increase in funding, provided by the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, from $1.1 million to $4.5 million annually, which began in fall 2006.

The evaluation also found that North Carolina youths responded well to the ads. More than 95 percent who had seen the ads run in 2007 reported that they were convincing, attention-grabbing and gave good reasons not to use tobacco. More than 25 percent said they talked to their friends about the ads, indicating high “chat value.” Anti-tobacco and pro-health attitudes among North Carolina youth remained stable and strong, the evaluation found.

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Orange County Fire Marshal Mike Tapp reminds county residents that the current burning ban prohibits the use of open flames.

In addition, Orange County Forest Ranger Jacob Pressley said county 911 has received multiple calls daily for open burning violations — many related to residents burning leaves.

The State of North Carolina’s Division of Forest Resources banned open burning on October 15 because of the drought. For more information, contact the fire marshal at 968-2050.

Barbara Clark, the Pittsboro housekeeper accused of fatally beating her former employers, was charged with a second count of murder on Monday after another woman died over the weekend.

Clark, 41, was charged with the first count of murder last week after Mary Corcoran, 82, died Wednesday from injuries sustained during the beating. Margaret Murta, 92, died Saturday.

Clark is accused of attacking three women — former employers Corcoran and Murta, as well as Rebecca Fisher, 77 — in a Galloway Ridge apartment on December 5, after the women confronted her about stolen checks. Fisher was reported to be in stable condition at UNC Hospitals on Monday.

Chatham County Commissioner Carl E. Thompson reports that his doctors have pronounced him cancer-free and that he will resume his commissioner duties at the upcoming Dec. 17th meeting.

“I am most grateful that the prostate cancer was found in the early stages and that the surgery to remove it completely was successful. My urologist, Dr. Cary Robertson from Duke University Hospital, reports that I am now cancer-free,” Thompson said.

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Kenneth Earl White Sr. is being held without bail in Hillsborough. He is charged with the murder of Ebony Robinson who was found dead Friday on Wrenn Road, a gravel drive off University Station Road just north of I-85 in Hillsborough. Robinson, eight months pregnant, had been shot several times.

White, a neighbor who had a relationship with Robinson, was said to have threatened her the day before the shooting.

Danielle Iredale, who lost her seeing eye dog, Inka, in an early morning hit and run at a bus stop on BPW Club Road in October 2006, was awarded $500,000 in civil damages by a jury in Hillsborough Friday.

Iredale, who was injured in the hit and run and suffered depression and post-tramatic stress afterward, sued Stephen White Coffee, who plead guilty to felony hit-and-run and driving while imparired in the case.

Special Events
Student Art Sale – UNC’s 1st annual student print sale. Original student artworks at very reasonable prices (cheap!). Etchings, photographs, drawings, digital and more. Fri, Dec 14, 9am-6pm, and Sat, Dec 15, 10am-2pm, Hanes Art Center, room 301, located near the intersection of Franklin & Columbia St, Chapel Hill.

Bill of Rights Day – Sat, Dec 15. Come out and hear a reading of the Bill of Rights at Peace and Justice Plaza (corner of Henderson and E Franklin St, Chapel Hill, in front of the post office). Begins at noon. Organized by Senator Ellie Kinnaird to honor Joe Herzenberg.

NC Society for Ethical Culture Benefit - Ken Eill reads from his book Variations on a Theme–Poems of Jazz, followed by music & stories of the musicians & places of jazz in the 30s/40s. Sat, Dec 15, 3-5pm. $5. Open Eye Cafe, 101 S Greensboro St, Carrboro, 968-9410, www.openeyecafe.com. More »