Update: Cabela’s recently announced it was slowing its plans to open more stores to only four this year.

Retailer says it has no plans for store at Buckhorn Road development

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Though not certain that Cabela’s is indeed the anchor tenant for the recently announced Buckhorn Village retail and mix-use center, a competitor of the outdoor retailer is already gearing up for a fight.

David Ewald, a public-affairs consultant who works for Cabela’s competitor Gander Mountain, said he’s heard that Cabela’s may be considering locating a store in the 128-acre site off I-85/I-40 in Orange County. If so, Ewald says, be prepared to hear that an economic incentives package is part of the mix. There are three Gander Mountain stores in North Carolina, located in Fayetteville, Greensboro and Morrisville.

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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

A Chapel Hill man has been charged with murdering his son-in-law in the Carrboro Plaza parking lot Monday evening.

Garland Mcray King Jr., of 900 Sesame Rd., was apprehended by police shortly after 6 p.m. Monday. King, 65, was found in possession of a handgun. The victim, 59-year-old James Kenneth Imonti, was found unconscious, lying face down, having been shot once in the back. He was transported by Orange County EMS to UNC Hospitals, where he was pronounced dead an hour later.

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By Valarie Schwartz

Having grown up with a creek behind my house, it thrilled me to learn when I moved to Chapel Hill in 1994 that Bolin Creek flowed only a few yards beyond my new home. During the five years I lived there, few days passed without spending time with my dog, exploring and enjoying the many varieties of nature offered along property — mostly in Carrboro — that abuts, and some that encompasses, the future Carolina North.

A woodpecker pecking high above in a tree; an owl swooping down repeatedly warning of her nearby nesting brood; ripples, pools and glides repeating down the stream; fallen trees forcing new paths following a storm; descriptions of some of the many sights gifted to frequenters of Bolin Creek.

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Nelson and Stella Chen pose with security officer James Latta, who found Mrs. Chen’s lost engagement ring in the parking lot. Photo by Kirk Ross.

By Emily Burns
Staff Writer

Most children taunt each other with the phrase “finders, keepers; losers, weepers” when they find a toy that belongs to another child buried in the sandbox. But as they grow up, not all of them realize that finders shouldn’t always be keepers. James Latta, a security officer at Carr Mill Mall, did.

As he was patrolling the lot in front of Fleet Feet Sports on the afternoon of Jan. 11, Latta noticed something unusual — a diamond ring — lying on the ground between two cars. He moved closer to the ring, studying it carefully, and then picked it up and placed in his pocket before continuing his rounds.

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Coral Honeysuckle flowering in mid-winter. Photo by Ken Moore.

By Ken Moore

It’s the dead of winter, and two summer-flowering vines have captured my interest. A Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, caught my eye two weeks ago when it screamed across my deck for attention from beneath its cap of snow! Several clusters of scarlet tubular flowers continue to flower in spite of the subsequent below-freezing temperatures. It’s the nature of this native vine to flower off and on throughout the summer into mid-December. Flowering now in midwinter is unusual. But, hey, that’s nature!

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Orange Water and Sewer Authority officials are sill not sure what caused a major water main break on a chilly morning last week that led to the loss of about 500,000 gallons or roughly 7 percent of the utility’s daily water consumption.

Officials said the break in an 8 inch diameter water main near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North Street happened at about 1:20 a.m. OWASA crews responded and shut off water in the area at about 3:30 a.m. and closed the street.

About 100 OWASA customers in the North Street-Cobb Terrace area were without water until the break could be repaired.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards ended his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, telling supporters at a rally in New Orleans to continue to fight for a more just and equitable society.

Edwards ended his campaign where it began in the city’s still devastated Ninth Ward.

“Do not turn away from these great struggles before us. Do not give up on the causes ‘that we have fought for. Do not walk away from what’s possible, because it’s time for all of us, all of us together, to make the two Americas one,” he told supporters.

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A few markers were chiseled blocks of granite with names and dates. They were much newer, closer to the road, and seeing them you at least had a name to connect with the depression in the undergrowth. But further into the place, deeper into woods that had grown up since those markers were placed, there were only stones here and there and it took a while before you could see that there were rows of stones. Some were very small, just the size of a hand and barely poking out of the vinca minor that covered the forest floor.  More »

Town leaders and key town staffers met for two days at the OWASA community room last weekend at the annual retreat for the mayor and board of aldermen. Photo by Kirk Ross

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

After spending the first day of their annual retreat discussing the type of town they’d like to see Carrboro become (or remain), their personal values and how they apply that to their work, members of the board of aldermen waded into the thorny issues of parking and economic development in hopes of crafting a strategy to move forward on those issues in the year ahead. More »

Edward Sigurd Hasselblad, 98, died on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at his Carolina Meadows residence in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He was born in Seattle, Washington on December 17, 1909. He lived there until he and his wife moved to Durham several years ago. More »

Renée Fontaine Krusa, 90, died January 22nd at Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, NC.

Renée was born in Roslyn Estates, Long Island, NY to André and Mildred Arey Fontaine. Her father was born in France and her mother’s heritage can be traced to the Mayflower’s arrival in 1620. The Fontaines owned and operated the first summer camp for girls in the U.S. in the New York Finger Lakes Region. There Renée got her start in athletics, especially competitive swimming. More »

Adam Sapikowski agreed to plead guilty last week to two counts of second-degree murder for killing his parents in 2005.

Sapikowski, 19, was set to go on trial for murdering his parents, James and Alison Sapikowski, but instead will plead guilty for the murder of his father on Friday and for the murder of his mother next week. He will serve between 40 and 50 years in prison.

The Chapel Hill Police Department has obtained warrants for two teenagers in connection with a string of residential break-ins this month in the Pinehurst area. More »

The UNC Board of Trustees last week approved the purchase of a parcel of land off Merritt Mill Road adjacent to the university’s railroad corridor for $3.5 million.

The majority of the 8.44-acre property is located in Carrboro, while about one acre is located in Chapel Hill. More »

The Board of County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Tuesday to receive citizen comments regarding the county manager’s recommended 2008-18 Capital Investment Plan as well as the Local Revenue Options Referendum. More »