As our story points out this week (and we’ll be reminding you for the next several weeks), this is a rather complicated election.

There are new rules about registration, a new district system for county commissioners, a tax referendum, a contested race for North Carolina Senate, and a full statewide and national primary ballot that is competitive all the way up the ticket to U.S. President.

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Animals have been adopted or recovered from the Animal Shelter on Martin Luther King Boulevard for as long as community memory serves. It was run by the Animal Protection Society until 2004 when Orange County assumed direct operational responsibility for the shelter. The next year the County created Animal Services, a department responsible for animal control as well as sheltering services in Orange County.

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Colin Austin is absolutely correct when he states that “Fear is on the rise in North Carolina”. I believe, however, that he has focused on only one aspect of the fear.

He has ignored the fear of a mother in Burlington who must send her children to a school where gang violence is steadily increasing, violence that did not exist prior to the influx of illegal immigrants to the area.

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For the first time in years, we’ve got some difficult ballot choices in an “off time” election. Local citizens would benefit by giving them some thought.

For democrat and independent primary voters, there are real choices in candidates for president and for NC state senate. Corporate Clinton or Orator Obama? Perhaps the candidate whose income was over $100 million in the last seven years will understand our cost of living concerns?

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Misinformation about the proposed transfer tax for Orange County is being disseminated to voters who will make a decision on the transfer tax on the May 6th ballot. I wish to correct that misinformation by showing what the effect is on the five counties that have had the transfer tax for many years.

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By Pam Hemminge

At the March 20th meeting of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education, we adopted a resolution in support of the Orange County Commissioners’ decision to place a Land Transfer Tax referendum on the May 6 ballot. It is projected that the Land Transfer Tax would generate approximately $3.5 million annually in Orange County to meet critical county facility needs.

Why did the Board take this action?

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Early voting begins Thursday, April 17, for the May 6 election. Unregistered but eligible voters can register at early voting sites with identification showing their name and current address. Doing this means that you can only vote at the early-voting site. Registered voters can change registration information but not party affiliation.

Vote early in Carrboro at the town hall and in Chapel Hill at Morehead Planetarium or the Robert and Pearl Seymour Senior Center during weekday business hours. The last day is Saturday, May 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Hugh Harrington was elected to the Pittsboro Town Board of Commissioners in March in a special election for the Board’s last open seat.

Harrington finished six votes ahead of Michele Berger in the November elections to win the Board’s third open seat. However, 17 voters received incorrect ballots, and the State Board of Elections in December authorized the new election because the ballots could have affected the outcome of the election.

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The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday received an update regarding the voter education effort for the May 6 referendum on the land transfer tax.

Voters on May 6 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. The board in March voted to spend as much as $100,000 on the voter education effort.

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The registration deadline for those who want to vote in the May 6 election falls on April 11. To vote, you must be:

• a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina and this county for 30 days before the election;
• at least 18 years old on or before the next election;
• not registered and not voting in any other county or state;
• if convicted of a felony have voting rights restored.

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The Orange County Board of Elections will hold a demonstration of the voting process and the procedures in place at 1 p.m. on April 26.

The Board hopes to ensure that all voters of Orange County have complete confidence in the voting system.

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The Emerson Waldorf School String-Pullers will present a marionette show, Doctor Faust, on Saturday at 1:15 and 3:15 p.m. in front of the post office on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

The high school marionette troupe has been building marionettes, costumes and sets, learning lines and staging a performance to prepare for the show. Faust is a well-known character from German legend that makes a pact with the devil, and has come to represent a person whose pride is his undoing.

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Emerson Waldorf School recently selected Joanne Andruscavage as its new director of administration.

Andruscavage serves as director of administration at the Austin Waldorf School in Texas, and will begin her work at Emerson Waldorf School on July 1. She has also served as principal of St. Theresa’s School in Austin and of St. Ambrose School in Baltimore.

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The Chapel Hill High School Ambassadors for Peace Club traveled to Chicago last week.

Students who went on the trip include Sarah Kerwin, Pasangi Perera, Philip Daniels, Ahna Weeks, Allison Press, Kaela Cogswell, Rachel Harrison, Kali Xu, Giberto Sibrian, Brittany Thompson, Jolisa Mercer, James Senter, Elysia Su, Kayley Abell-Hart, Wendy Avendano, Ariel White, Nicholas Speaker and Philip Kitchen.

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Ten students from Phillips Middle School were selected to the Eastern Regional Junior All-State Orchestra on March 1.

Selected students include violinists Alice Huang, Cissy Yu, Tsai-Wei Cheng, Eric Chiou, Angie Edwards, Sandya Mahadevan and Sirui Wang; cellist Lewis Peel; and bassist Kyle Jordan.  William Heine was named an alternate on bass.

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