Autumn olive is an ‘Ill-natured Agnes’. Photo by Ken Moore.

The Haw River Assembly’s Earth Day walk along the Haw River revealed a spectacular display of an ill-natured plant.

No sooner had we entered the forest on the northeast side of the US 64 bridge than several walkers inquired about the heavy, perfumed fragrance wafting on the spring breeze. We eventually became accustomed to that scent, which accompanied us for half of our leisurely mile-long excursion along the river. Some portions of the path were almost tunnel-like passageways through thorny thickets of this exotic shrub bearing countless clusters of tiny, white, four-petal flowers in the axils of silvery leaves.

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Alex Maiolo (center, with clipboard) signs up last Thursday for a ticket to the Arcade Fire/Superchunk show. Photo by Lucy Butcher.

This weekend, the Town Commons will be packed with activity, kicking off with a concert sponsored by the Barack Obama presidential campaign on Friday afternoon and closing with the 13th annual Carrboro Day on Sunday.

The “Change Rocks” concert, featuring Arcade Fire and Superchunk, is intended to encourage one-stop early voting and is conveniently located next to Carrboro Town Hall, an early-voting site.

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by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Determined to keep their perfect score in defeating counties’ efforts to adopt a real estate transfer tax, the North Carolina real estate and construction interests, led by the North Carolina Association of Realtors and the North Carolina Homebuilders, have pumped more than $205,000 in cash and in-kind contributions into defeating the initiative in Orange County.

The figures, filed on Monday — the deadline for campaign finance reports for the first quarter and the final weeks leading up to the election — show that the state organizations that have helped organize and fund county-based groups to fight the tax represent the bulk of funding for Citizens for a Better Orange County, which was set up in February to fight the tax.
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by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

An historic spring primary winds up this week with both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and their supporters criss-crossing the state in search of votes and North Carolinians brave enough to have their televisions on, subjected to a near-endless barrage of state and national campaign ads.

Local and some statewide candidates have been working Orange County rallies and early-voting sites as well.

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by Taylor SiskStaff Writer“How, if elected, do you propose to deal with the provisioning of mental health care services in North Carolina?”It’s a question that has been posed with some regularity to this year’s candidates for governor – and urgently so: Our mental health care system is in crisis. Among those candidates, Democrats Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue and Republican Bob Orr have offered the more detailed elaborations of what they would do as governor.Last month, the Associated Press asked each of the candidates to describe how they proposed to reform our mental health care system. Richard Moore said that he would complete any outstanding initiatives that the current head of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, Dempsey Benton, had begun, toward ensuring a smooth transition. Moore said that this would include working to discontinue blended payment rates, by which agencies are reimbursed at the same rate regardless of their employees’ credentials. More »

By Valarie Schwartz

There are two ponds in my neighborhood. The one nearest my house has a fallen tree lying across a portion of it upon which on sunny days a host of turtles can be found collecting vitamin D. They line the log from both ends, dozens of them, each looking toward the middle of the 20-foot expanse as though lined up for a tug of war. One day I decided to walk over and take a photo of the sunbathers. But as I approached, a squirrel darted out in front of me as I heard a barely discernible noise and, looking at the log, found it empty — in a splash.

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by Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Carrboro Police have arrested and charged three individuals in connection with a recent string of armed robberies in Carrboro and Chapel Hill that appear to have targeted Latino victims.

According to the Carrboro Police Department, Lavarus Deleon Atwater, 16, of Cedar Lake Road in Chatham County; George Lavon Gattis Jr., 17, of Hill Street in Carrboro; and Kimberly Carol Sue Nicholson, 18, of Thomas Burke Drive in Hillsborough have each been charged with two counts of armed robbery and one count of conspiracy.
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by Rich Fowler
Staff Writer

At its meeting Monday night at Town Hall, the Chapel Hill Town Council agreed to give Glen Lennox area residents a chance to prove that they want their area turned into a Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD).

Organizers now have to get signatures from 51 percent of the landowners in an area bounded by Rogerson Road, Cleland Road, Hayes Road and NC 54.

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Wilson Library’s newest exhibit examines the beginning and growth of American counterculture poetry in post-World War II twentieth century in The Beats and Beyond: Counterculture Poetry, 1950-1975 in the Rare Book Collection of UNC’s Wilson Library.

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The Board of County Commissioners is expected to consider an amendment that would limit the tethering (or chaining) of dogs in Orange County.

The amendment will recommend limiting the time a dog could be tethered, creating minimum sizes for outdoor pens and regulating the types of tether that can be used.

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Commencement for May 2008 graduates will be held in Kenan Stadium on Sunday, May 11 from 9:30 to about 11:30 a.m. A reception for graduates and their families will follow in Polk Place. This year’s commencement speaker is opera singer Jessye Norman. In the event of rain with thunder, lightning and high winds, the ceremony will be moved to the Smith Center.

Sandwhich and 3Cups reopened on Tuesday, two days after Courtyard owner Spencer Young changed the locks on the doors and posted a letter claiming the businesses had failed to pay $85,000 in rent.

The West Franklin Street businesses have had an ongoing dispute with Young regarding parking, claiming that he has failed to provide parking that he agreed to provide in the lease. Most of the parking behind the Courtyard is owned by P.H. Craig, and Young has refused to pay Craig rent for the spaces, so Craig has blocked off the parking.

Because of the parking dispute, Lex Alexander, owner of 3Cups, said he has been putting rent into an escrow account instead of paying Young.

Special Events

Really Really Free Market — First Saturdays from 2:30-5:30pm. Town Commons. Come, swap, take!

Fourth Friday Studio Stroll — downtown Pittsboro artists open studio doors from 6-8pm, May 23. Demonstration at Side Street Gallery 6:30pm pittsboroshops.com

Classic Car Show — Saturday, May 17. 10am-2pm at the Walnut Grove UMC. Classic American and European cars. Refreshments will be available.$20 show car entry fee. Winners receive a dash plaque certificate and gift. Proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society and the Orange/Hillsborough Relay For Life. donwollum@gmail.com or 732-5722
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Friday, May 2 1:30-6pm
Pathways Elementary School, Hillsborough. 732-9136 x.0

Sunday, May 4 1-5pm
Berry’s Grove Baptist Church, Timberlake. (336) 364-8158

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Niños entrando al kínder y al primer grado en agosto pueden aprovechar del nuevo programa bilingüe (inglés y español) en la escuela de Frank Porter Graham Elementary. El programa es parecido al programa bilingüe inglés-español de Carrboro Elementary. Los estudiantes recibirán materias en inglés y en español. La mitad de los estudiantes serán de familias hispanohablantes (hablan español en casa) y la otra mitad serán de familias no hispanohablantes. Reunión hoy para padres con interés en el programa: el jueves 1 de mayo a las 6:30pm en Carrboro Elementary. Habrá guardería y traducción en la reunión. Para más información del programa, llame al 933-9143 ó 422-6475 ó 967-9392. Piden las solicitudes para el programa en el Lincoln Center, 750 Merritt Mill Rd, Chapel Hill. Aceptan solicitudes hasta el 23 de mayo. Cupo limitado. Solamente para niños quienes residen en la zona escolar de Frank Porter Graham. La entrega de una solicitud no garantiza que el niño/la niña participe en el programa.