By Chris Fitzsimon

The crisis in North Carolina’s mental health system is center stage this week in the state’s political debate, something long overdue considering the woeful performance of the system that is supposed to provide care for people with mental illness, a developmental disability or addiction.

The Raleigh News & Observer kicked off a five-part series Sunday about the ongoing problems with the 2001 mental health reform efforts under the bold banner headline “Reform wastes millions, enriches providers, fails to serve mentally ill.” More »

Though a Chapel Hill-ian, I have grown more and more fond of reading your weekly paper, The Carrboro Citizen. In recent weeks, I find myself eagerly awaiting the next installment of Ken Moore’s “Flora” column. His appreciation for the natural world and eloquent expression make his columns a pleasure to read.  More »

I was very dismayed to read about the bicycle accident suffered by musician Dave Laney. Particularly so, because I had just written to Mayor Chilton a few days ago about unregulated traffic in Carrboro. More »

The Orange County Partnership for Young Children is sponsoring the community gardens in Carrboro and seeking volunteers, preferably families with young children, to apply for gardening space. Support is provided and gardeners can take on space at the Martin Luther King Park garden and the Carrboro Elementary garden. Applications can be found at www.orangesmartstart.org. For more information, call 967-9091.

Culbreth Middle School student Calvin Wagner placed second in the nation at the American Bouldering Series Championship in the Male Youth C category for ages 12-13. More »

The Orange County Arts Commission seeks applicants for a public art project at the Robert and Pearl Seymour Center.

The project is open to all artists living in North Carolina, working in any media. Artist teams are eligible to apply, including teams of artists from multiple disciplines. Orange County artists are encouraged to apply. More »

Special Events

• North Carolina Environment Justice Network Quarterly Summit Meeting — will be held at the Faith Tabernacle Oasis of Love Church on Saturday, March 1 from 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. with speakers discussing landfill issues, water and sewage issues and the concerns of Smithfield Foods workers. More »

Free Oak Avenue
(from speeders)
There are a lot of times in local government when a group of citizens gets up before a board of elected officials and says, “If you had to approve this today, you wouldn’t.”

So, Oak Avenue residents were right to remind the board of aldermen Tuesday that they wouldn’t allow a developer to build a 21-foot wide road (17 feet, not counting the curbs and gutters) with no sidewalks if the traffic count was upwards of 1,000 trips a day.

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Pendulous male catkins of American Hazelnut. Photo by Ken Moore.

By Ken Moore

Be on the lookout for a multi-stemmed shrub that appears to be decorated with pendulous, 4-to-6-inch strips of yellow yarn. If you examine these streamers closely, gently tap several of them. You’ll be surprised by the clouds of pollen. The streamers are staminate catkins, which are pendulous clusters of petalless male flowers providing pollen for the much-less-obvious petalless female flowers.

The challenge of this botany lesson is to find the female flowers. You’ll have to look closely to find tiny swollen buds with clusters of rosy red threads protruding from the bud tips. These short red threads are the stigmas of the hidden female flowers. The exposed stigmas catch the passing pollen that is required for those flowers to produce hazelnuts.

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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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