The Chapel Hill Police Department on Monday announced that police dog KC died of cancer on Friday.

According to the department, KC began experiencing difficulty breathing early Friday and was found to be in the late stages of cancer. He was seven years old and had been the partner of Officer Gabe Shin for the last five years.

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The Down Yonder Farm will host their annual Send A Kid To Camp benefit on Saturday, March 22. Performers include blues singer and guitarist Harvey Dalton Arnold, performance artist Tiffany Okafor, country singer/songwriter Wil Mills and the Rhonda Robichaux band. Admission to the event is free and donations will go toward sending local kids to various summer camps. The event is sponsored in part by the Triangle Community Foundation. More information at 732-7254.

The Fearrington Barn will host an art auction to raise money for the Family Violence and Rape Crisis Center on Sunday, March 9 from 2 to 5 p.m. Local art will be auctioned and music, drinks and food will be available. Tickets are $20 and can be bought at Second Bloom, Chatham Arts, Blue Birds & Hollyhocks and The Blue House in Pittsboro. The event also features a poetry contest. For more information or to reserve tickets, call 542-0394.

Special Events

Annual Orange County Egg Hunt for children ages 2-10. Sat, Mar 15, Homestead community Park, 100 Northern Park Dr, Chapel Hill. Children’s entertainment begins at 9:30am and the 20,000-egg hunt begins at 10:30am. Games and a meet-and-greet with the Easter Bunny will follow. Sponsored by the Town of Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department. Call 968-2787×208 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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The Triangle Land Conservancy, an environmental group responsible for keeping over 10,000 acres of local wilderness undeveloped, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. The conservation group is also using the opportunity to initiate a new fund entitled “Our Water, Our Land,” which will be used to conserve wilderness in imminent danger. The group has raised over $3.5 million already and expects the fund to eventually wield over $30 million.

By Neil Pedersen 

“Cheat or repeat.”  That’s the response from one of my high school students when I, as an English teacher, was sharing my zero tolerance standard for cheating on the first day of school. For some reason, I still vividly remember this utterance 35 years later. Perhaps, it was because at my undergraduate school we operated under a strict honor code in which students were trusted. I never had a member of the faculty in the room when I was being tested during my four years there. I never cheated and never was aware of a classmate cheating.

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By Chris Fitzsimon

In 1992, a prominent Democratic state senator was talking to a small group of people waiting for a political rally to start when the subject turned to an effort by progressives to repeal the state sales tax on food that had been imposed in the early 1960s by Gov. Terry Sanford to raise money to improve the state’s struggling education system.

The senator said he didn’t support that idea because “the poor need to pay taxes too.” That was a common view in the General Assembly at the time, though not said in public very often.

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George Bush for torture. Yes, alas. And we stand by, in horror and in apathy. I speak for myself in this. I earlier organized a web revolt (Yes, I am revolted!) at the fact that we Americans condone torture – see tort.wikispaces.com. And I had planned on becoming a lot more active in promoting the revolt. But I have yet to go onto campus and distribute leaflets. What has happened?

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Congratulations to the owners of the Andrews-Riggsbee site, soon to be Roberson Square, on approval of their project. I can’t wait to see their cool-looking mixed-use building in place of the vacant lot that is there now!
I’m disappointed they didn’t include a restaurant, any child-related structures, and that their garbage entrance will face their residential neighbors on the East Carr Street instead of the commercial Roberson Street side.

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On to Stage Three

[Editor’s note: While recent rains have helped, we are entering the warm weather months with extremely low water supplies. We cannot will a change in the weather, but we can improve conservation. To that end, Stage Three restrictions were approved at the beginning of this month.
Following are the new restrictions.]

Stage Three restrictions

No irrigation with OWASA drinking water is permitted, except with hand-held hoses or watering cans. Such irrigation shall not occur more than three days each week (Tuesday, Thursday and/or Saturday for odd-numbered addresses; Wednesday, Friday and/or Sunday for even addresses); may be applied to non-grass plant material only; and is limited to one-half inch per week.

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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Six candidates have filed for election to the Orange County Schools Board of Education.

Incumbent Al Hartkopf is running for re-election, challenged by newcomers Eddie Eubanks, Steve Halkiotis, Tony McKnight, Jeff Michalski and Stan Morris.

Three seats on the board are available. School board member Dennis Whitling resigned last month, following his arrest on charges of embezzlement.

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Last Friday marked the last day of filing season for the May 6 primaries and school board election and a final-day flurry of filings resulted in a number of races turning from non-competitive to contested and perhaps the first time in county history where a husband and wife could find themselves running against each other.

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Britney Rider, a student in the Academy of Information Technology, recently received a $2,000 scholarship to recognize her work in an internship experience.

The National Academy Foundation selected Rider from more than 130 entries. To enter, students had to tell the story of their internship through essays, photos, videos, websites and PowerPoint presentations.

The Culbreth Middle School Jazz Band received a superior rating at the Elon University Jazz Festival on February 22.

The band performed three different jazz-style selections to earn the superior rating from the festival’s adjudicators.

Stephanie Knott, assistant to the superintendent for community relations for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, was recently named Orange County’s Campaign Leader of the Year by Triangle United Way.

Knott will receive the award on March 18 during the Triangle United Way’s Annual Awards Celebration.

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