By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to put a land transfer tax on the May ballot.

Voters will decide whether property sellers will pay a 0.4 percent land transfer tax. If the measure passes, the county could begin collecting funds during the 2008-09 fiscal year.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Though separate items on its Tuesday night agenda, concerns about managing growth downtown have the Carrboro Board of Aldermen carefully considering next steps for traffic calming on Oak Avenue and a proposed rezoning on Center Street.

The Center Street proposal brought by a group of owners led by Jane Hamborsky asks that the town change the zoning on its property at 102 Center Street to allow for a greater variety of business uses.

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Carrboro is not quite midway through an effort to add 15 firefighters, a move necessary to fully staff its new northern fire station. It’s been a costly effort and six new positions added in the past two years constituted a major portion of the town’s personnel cost increases.

This year, that effort continues, but thanks to a $314,262 SAFER grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency the cost to the town of bringing on the next batch of hires will drop. For the first year, the grant will pick up 90 percent of the cost of hiring three new firefighters.

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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

On March 2, nearly 600 people from Orange County are expected to gather for the 11th annual Community Dinner.

The event – which was started in 1998 as a celebration of Black History Month – draws county residents young and old, black and white and rich and poor.

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By Valarie Schwartz

Besides the story of how they met, my favorite story about my parents is the one where they named me while sitting on the pale yellow “glider” that now sits on my front porch. During a visit in 2002, my mother told my partner, John, and I the story while we repainted the bench (the glider part disappeared years ago).

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By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

The Board of County Commissioners reviewed site selection criteria for a solid-waste transfer station this week, settling on a process that starts by eliminating environmentally sensitive areas and that looks for sites close to major roads and heavy trash generation.

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A raccoon found in Efland tested positive for rabies on Monday at the State Laboratory of Public Health.

Residents in the vicinity of Carrington Lane and Chestnut Ridge Church Road on Monday found their three dogs attacking the raccoon.

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The Orange County Fire Marshal has issued a countywide open-burning ban.

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued an open-burning ban for all 100 counties in the state last week. The state ban prohibits all open burning 100 feet or more from an occupied dwelling. Orange County expanded the ban to all open burning, regardless of the distance from a structure.

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The Town of Carrboro is accepting submissions for the Carrboro Youth Poetry Contest.

Participants must be 18 or younger, a resident of Carrboro and a poet. The contest will be divided into elementary, middle and high school levels, and each level will have one first-place winner and one honorable mention.

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The UNC School of Law plans to relocate to Carolina North by fall 2012, Jack Boger, dean of the law school, announced Friday.

The decision to leave main campus came after architectural reports by the SmithGroup concluded that construction of a new building to facilitate growth within the law school would be more practical than expanding and renovating the building that currently houses the school.

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The Orange County Human Relations Commission and the Office of Human Rights and Relations will host the 2007 Pauli Murray Human Relations Awards on February 24 from 3 to 5 p.m.

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More than 1,100 UNC students have committed to stand on their feet for 24 hours on Friday at the 10th annual UNC Dance Marathon.

The event celebrates the conclusion of the participants’ yearlong fundraising efforts in support of North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

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The Carnivore Preservation Trust will host its inaugural Black Tie and Tails Ball on Saturday at the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh.

The event will start at 7 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction, which will feature more than 70 items, including artwork, jewelry, iPods and more. A seated gourmet dinner and a live auction, featuring trips to Spain and Florida, Carolina Panthers tickets and more, will follow. The evening will conclude with dancing.
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Special Events

1st Annual Collectors Fair hosted by the Town of Carrboro and the N.C. Recreation and Parks Department. Sat, Feb 23, 9am-3pm. Century Center, 100 N Greensboro St. Collectible items such as coins, stamps, trading cards, comic books, dolls, toys & more will be on hand. Vendor booths available for $25-$35. Call Brendan Moore at 918-7392 or bmoore@townofcarrboro.org for more info.

Lunchbox Concert Series — Thursdays through Mar 6. Bring lunch to the Century Center and hear live music from noon to 1pm. Free coffee provided by Open Eye Café. 100 N Greensboro St. Call 918-7385 or visit townofcarrboro.com/rp/cc.htm for more info.

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NC Cooperative Extension Service and NC Choices will hold a farm marketing workshop tonight (Thursday) at 6:30 at the Schley Grange Hall, about five miles north of Hillsborough.

Mac Baldwin of Baldwin Family Farms in Yanceyville will discuss his marketing strategies for his grass-fed beef. In addition, Annie Baggett of Sunshine Lavender Farms in Schley will discuss marketing a wide variety of lavender products.

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