By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Ruby Merritt got 16 telephone calls on Saturday.

With 39 family members already in town to celebrate her 100th birthday, that’s quite a few, she said.

Merritt is the matriarch of a large family, with four children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. On Sunday, her family threw her 100th birthday party at Captain John’s Dockside Restaurant, and family members came from as far away as California, Pennsylvania and Germany to celebrate. More »

By Valarie Schwartz

When we remember that “kicked in the stomach” feeling of Sept. 11, 2001, we need to also remember something we didn’t personally experience — the reason we have a holiday coming up on Monday.

Memorial Day was started as our country strained to find measures for reconciliation following the “War Between the States,” which had torn us apart. The 3,000 lives lost on 9/11 pale in comparison to what we did to ourselves over four horrible years, ending in 1865.

Somewhere between 618,000 and 700,000 Americans died during the Civil War. No state lost more than North Carolina, with an estimated 20,602. More »

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Last week, a young woman died after she was hit by a bus while jogging on the UNC campus. Then on Saturday, another woman died after a car hit her while she was crossing Weaver Dairy Road.

And in April, a man died after he was struck by a Town of Chapel Hill vehicle near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Hillsborough Street. More »

By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

At a work session held before Tuesday night’s Orange County Board of Commissioners meeting at the Southern Human Services Center, the board approved exclusionary criteria to guide it in its search for a site for a solid-waste transfer station.

The board heard from Ed Shuffler and Bob Sallach of Olver Inc. as it nailed down the final wording of the exclusionary criteria. Olver is the consulting firm hired by the county to establish criteria, conduct the search and advise the commissioners on the selection of a site. More »

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Orange County Manager Laura Blackmon recommended an 8.8-cent increase on the ad valorem tax rate at the board of county commissioners meeting on Tuesday.

The increase would raise the ad valorem tax rate to $1.038 per $100 of property valuation, representing a 9 percent increase over the current 95-cent rate. The recommended $188.3 million budget is an 8.4 percent increase over last year’s approved budget. More »

By Ken Moore

It’s just beginning to flower, so you have a week or two to go walking with “a closer look” to find it along wood’s edge, a stream bank, in piney woods or deciduous forests – it doesn’t seem to matter. What does matter is that you keep a keen eye along the path edges for this little plant that I’ve never observed standing more than eight inches above the ground – the snakeroot.

The smallish plant’s zig-zag stem, usually leaning to one side, has four to eight narrow, arrow-shaped leaves. The leaves are a little over an inch to three and a half inches long with a distinctive tapering point and a broad heart-shape base. It is distinctive; once you spot it, you’ll most likely not forget it. More »

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The good news coming from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority is not only that the reservoirs are nearing capacity but that conservation practices among the utility’s customers continue even though the more stringent rules have been lifted.

The bad news, though, is that less water use has opened up a hole in the OWASA budget that likely will require a hefty rate increase. More »

Learn what’s happening to repair and protect Bolin Creek tonight (Thursday) at 7:30 p.m. at the Robert and Pearl Seymour Center on Homestead Road. Stream ecologist Trish D’Arconte of the Town of Chapel Hill Stormwater Management  Division will discuss plans regarding the creek. The event is sponsored by the Friends of Bolin Creek.

Ayrshire Farm will be the site of a party and potluck on Sunday, June 29. “Potluck in a Pasture,” organized by ChathamArts, will bring visitors and their favorite dishes, made with all local ingredients, to the oldest certified organic farm in the state for dining, music and community. Featured performers and speakers are bluegrass musician Susan Ketchin, singer Sarah Shook, mural artist Erick Davis, woodworker Diane Swan and publishers Dave Korzon and Elizabeth Oliver. Farm owner Bill Dow will lead a tour of the farm. More »

The Pittsboro General Store Café will host a Burrito Bash from 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday, June 9 to benefit ChathamArts and the Chatham Artists Guild. The Shelbys provide live music for dancing. A live auction will include works by local artists. Tickets are $15 at the door or $12 if bought early from the ChathamArts Gallery or at Bluebirds and Hollyhocks in Fearrington Village. For more information, call 542-0394.

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

At its meeting Tuesday night at Town Hall, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen set a public hearing for June 24 on a proposed amendment to the town’s land-use plan as a result of the controversy raised earlier this year over taco trucks downtown.

After an anonymous complaint in January, the town sent landowners warnings that the trucks using their properties violate zoning rules. But citing concerns about the rules as drafted, town officials decided not to follow up with the next steps in zoning violation cases. More »

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday on the town’s 2008-2009 budget.
The hearing begins at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The agenda is available on the town’s website.

A copy of Town Manager Steve Stewarts’s proposed $18,476,375 budget is also available on the site at the town government link. More »

Orange County Animal Control is raising the prices on several fees this July. Fees for mistreatment, failure to license a pet and failure to vaccinate against rabies have been increased to $200. Fees for public-nuisance violations have been doubled. The Animal Control Division says the fees only affect pet owners who violate county animal ordinances and do not comply once notified, and that the fee increase is the first in over a decade. They say the fee increase will encourage people to meet the demands of the law and improve public safety.

Two rabid raccoons and one rabid bat were found in Orange County. One raccoon was found Friday, May 16 near NC 54 and Dodson’s Crossroads in Chapel Hill. The bat was found Saturday, May 17 on NC 86 north of I-40. The second raccoon was found Sunday, May 18 near Burton Road and NC 86. More »

The Board of County Commissioners held a public hearing regarding the county’s proposed Comprehensive Plan on Monday.

County residents are invited to provide feedback regarding the proposed plan to the Orange County Planning Board through mid-June.

The plan is available online at www.co.orange.nc.us/planning/DRAFTCOMPPLAN050608.asp.