By Ken Moore

Native pink-flowered redbud, Cercis Canadensis, is right on schedule beginning its three-week-long flowering. It will be followed in a week or two by the pure-white Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida. The combination of these two native trees’ spring awakenings gives us four to five weeks of flowering with a dramatic overlapping of the two.

In recent years, this extended beautiful beginning of our natural Piedmont spring has been overshadowed by the short, week-long blinding white explosion of the exotic Bradford Pear, Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’, over-planted along city streets and in parking lots and residential landscapes.

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By Susie Dickson
Staff Writer

The atmosphere was more celebratory than tearful as thousands of students, faculty and Carolina community members came together on Tuesday to honor and say a final goodbye to UNC Student Body President Eve Carson.

Carson, an Athens, Ga. native who came to UNC as a Morehead-Cain scholar, was shot and killed in a robbery during the early morning hours of March 5. Two suspects – Demario James Atwater, 21, and Lawrence Alvin Lovette Jr., 17 – have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Police apprehended Atwater and Lovette last week after releasing photos of the suspects using Carson’s ATM card and driving what appeared to be her 2005 Toyota Highlander.

On Tuesday, people clad in Carolina blue streamed into the Dean Dome to say goodbye to their beloved friend, leader, colleague and family member. Many leaned on one another for support, but smiled as they watched a slide show and heard stories about Carson. More »

Proprietors say it’s full speed ahead

After a year of producing The Carrboro Citizen, Robert Dickson and Kirk Ross, publisher and editor, respectively, and owners of the newspaper, said Thursday that the enterprise is going strong after a year. Thanks to a loyal and growing readership, The Citizen is now the most widely read weekly publication in town.

With distribution of its press run of 5,000 papers expanded now to more than 90 locations (see list on Page 8), The Citizen is picked up by more than 3,000 people within the Carrboro town limits alone. Additional distribution expansion has increased readership in Hillsborough, Pittsboro, Southern Village, Meadowmont, on campus and throughout downtown Chapel Hill. The Citizen also maintains home-delivery service to 160 households.

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By Valarie Schwartz 

We all have dreams.

Besides the big ones, like world peace, there are the ones that come with sleep, serving as guides or revelations into our unconscious.

“Dreams don’t tell us things we already know about ourselves,” Marilyn Dyer told me. “What would be the point — they’d be a waste of time.”

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By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

Debbie Carraway is 37, works in information technology and has bipolar disorder. For 14 years, until just a couple of weeks ago, she was a client of Marilyn Ghezzi, a therapist at Caring Family Network. Caring Family Network no longer provides therapy services in Orange County, and Carraway is feeling the blow. The loss of continuity is at the top of her list of concerns.

“What I had before that I don’t have anymore is history,” Carraway says, “having someone who actually knows my story, who knows me, who has been with me through this walk. It’s been a long time, and having to leave that very suddenly is very hard.”

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By Susie Dickson
Staff Writer

One hundred Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools middle school students could be moved to different schools under a proposed redistricting plan that will be considered by the school board in a work session tonight (Thursday).

The proposed redistricting plan includes changes that would shift the Chinese-English dual-language program to McDougle Middle School, reduce enrollment at Culbreth Middle School and move orphan segments that were created during elementary redistricting last year. An orphan segment is a small group of students that is the only group from an elementary school to attend a particular middle school.

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LAKE LEVELS

University Lake: 0‘ .75” below full
Cane Creek Reservoir: 11‘ 6” below full

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The Obama for President campaign has landed.

This week, organizers working for Barack Obama, a U.S. Senator from Illinois and frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, started operating out of the former location of Shorty’s on Franklin Street.

More staffers and volunteers are expected to arrive soon to help gear up support in the area ahead of North Carolina’s May 6 primary.

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Attention market goers: Please note that the Carrboro Farmers’ Market is now open at 7 a.m. There’s plenty on hand (see “What’s at the Market,” page 10) and a lot of farmers who long to see you in the morning light.

A statewide hat tip to Carrboro resident James Evans, who helped make it a little harder for North Carolina’s voters to have their identity stolen.
A recent story in the Charlotte Observer says Evans noticed that the state board of elections website allowed him to lookup the birthdates of every voter on the rolls (close to 6 million folks). After he alerted state officials, they changed the site.

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Thursday March 20

Blue Horn Lounge: Blake Tedder. 10pm
Cat’s Cradle: Ingrid Michaelson, Bob Schneider, Cary Brothers, Joshua Radin, AM, Chris Denny. 7:30pm. Sold out.
The Cave: Early: The Woos. Late: Hege V, Hwyl, $5.
Local 506: Dub Trio, Foreign Islands, Grappling Hook. 9pm. $8
Nightlight: Icarus Himself, The Nothing Noise, The Men. 9:30pm

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By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

After receiving an update on water-conservation efforts among Carrboro and its neighbors, the town’s Board of Aldermen discussed how best to build conservation into the town’s ordinances.

An interlocal work group made up of officials from Carrboro, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, Chapel Hill and Orange County have formed a work group to consider water-demand management and water conservation. In a new report to local governments presented to the Carrboro board at its meeting at Town Hall Tuesday night, the group recommends new conservation rules for new development and several regulatory approaches for existing developments, including mandatory irrigation retrofits, a possible retrofit-on-sale ordinance and water audits. All of those proposals would likely require action by local governments. In addition, the group suggests that either OWASA or the local governments launch an extensive education program and start retrofitting facilities in schools, parks and public buildings.

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SECU Family House, a 40-bedroom hospital hospitality house for adult critical care patients and caregivers at UNC Hospitals, will open its doors to its first patients and families on March 31.

SECU Family House will provide housing to thousands of pre- and post-surgical patients from the transplant, oncology, burn, eating disorders and trauma units, making it possible for their family members and caregivers to stay nearby during lengthy stays that stretch a family’s budget and drain mental and emotional reserves. The facility, located at 123 Old Mason Farm Road, was funded with $8.1 million in cash and in-kind gifts. More »

Senator Kay Hagan, Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, will speak on Wednesday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro.

The event, which is sponsored by the Chatham County Democratic Women, will be open to the public and free of charge. There will be a question and answer period following her remarks.

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Triangle Transit will not operate bus and shuttle routes on Friday, March 21st in observance of the Good Friday holiday. Triangle Transit offices will also be closed. Triangle Transit will resume regular Saturday service on Saturday, March 22nd.

“Ellie Fest 2008” is a celebration of state Sen. Eleanor Kinnaird’s contributions to the state of North Carolina and a rally for her re-election campaign. It will be held on Sunday, April 6 from 2 to 5 pm at the Carrboro Town Commons. Music will be provided by Tim Stambaugh, Jimmy Magoo and Saludos Compay. Paperhand Puppet Intervention will entertain and state Sen. Janet Cowell will be the featured speaker. Refreshments will be provided by Open Eye Cafe.