By Catherine Rierson
Staff Writer

Nearing the end of a year-long search for a solid-waste transfer station, the Orange County Board of Commissioners decided on a list of three potential sites for the station at a work session Tuesday night. All three sites are located on a western corridor of Hwy. 54.
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Photo by Ava Barlow. Elisabeth Scott, a volunteer for the Orange County Democratic Party, gives a sample ballot highlighting the Democratic candidates to Will Hackney of Chapel Hill. Hackney was on his way in to the Carrboro Town Hall to participate in early voting Saturday.

You must mark your choice for president. Marking a straight ticket does not include a vote for president.

Between now and Election Day, some variation of the above two sentences are likely to be the most often repeated phrases in Orange County. North Carolina is one of only two states where voters cannot indicate their presidential preference by marking a straight ticket. It is also one of a dwindling number of tightly contested states in the race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. Two recent polls show Obama with a slight edge, but within the margin of error.
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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

When many Carrboro residents think about the developments planned for downtown, the questions that tend to come to mind address what it will look like, what businesses it will bring, how much parking will be available and how traffic will be affected.
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By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The board approved fees for the Historic Carrboro Plaque Program, recently launched by the Carrboro Appearance Commission.

The program “seeks to recognize structures of historic character and relevance in the town of Carrboro,” said Tom Wiltberger, a member of the Appearance Commission. The program ran a plaque design contest in the spring and selected the design of Linda Misiura, a local graphic designer.
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By Rich Fowler
Staff Writer

The Chapel Hill Town Council started its business meeting last Wednesday night by honoring Council Member Bill Thorpe, who passed away last month. Mayor Kevin Foy read a proclamation honoring his lifelong contributions to the town, and then everyone observed a moment of silence in his memory.
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Seventeen candidates have submitted their names to request information about the vacancy on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education.
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The Orange County Sheriff’s Office on Monday identified two homicide victims found in a home at 5704 Hwy. 70 East on Saturday.
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Speed warning signs were installed on Dogwood Acres Drive on Monday at Southern Community Park. The Town of Chapel Hill has announced plans to install speed tables as well.
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Three 18-foot tall billboards with jarring images of aborted fetuses towered over passers-by in Polk Place on the UNC campus Wednesday.

“It’s a violation of personal freedoms,” junior John McElwee, of Charlotte, said. “I’m coerced to look at dead fetuses on my way to class; it’s the equivalent of someone outside my front door with a loudspeaker.”
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The Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted unanimously on Tuesday to ask staff to prepare an ordinance limiting local campaign contributions to $250.

The state General Assembly passed a local bill in July authorizing Carrboro to adopt an ordinance limiting the amount of money that any individual or committee may contribute to a candidate for town office.
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Preserve Rural Orange will hold an open community meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. at the White Cross Recreation Center on White Cross Road in Chapel Hill.
Preserve Rural Orange is a group of rural county residents concerned about the possibility of a new airport at a site near White Cross in southwest Orange County. The site was identified as a possible location for a new airport in a 2005 consultant’s report to UNC.
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The Obama office just released details for the Concerts for Change with James Taylor.
In Chapel Hill the show is at Fetzer Field at 5 p.m. Monday. Tickets are available near the early voting sites in Orange County.
Here’s the full release with the additional concerts: More »

Photo by Kirk Ross. Democrat Bernadette Pelissier and Republican Kevin Wolff, candidates for the new at-large seat on the Orange County board of county commissioners, debate the issues at a forum at Carol Woods.

With an intense and historic presidential election, a highly contested race for governor and a U.S. Senate election that could turn out a well-known incumbent, there seems to be little oxygen left for races further down the ballot, especially local races.

That didn’t stop Democrat Bernadette Pelissier and Republican Kevin Wolff from highlighting their differences Tuesday, as the two candidates for the newly created at-large seat on the Orange County Board of County Commissioners squared off at their one and only election forum at Carol Woods Tuesday.
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Rich Fowler
Staff Writer

The Town of Chapel Hill wants to discourage people from coming to this year’s Halloween celebration. Roughly 80,000 people came last year and the town expects to see about the same number of people again this year.
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Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen talked bicycle transportation, greenways, helmets and more on Tuesday during a work session to review the Bicycle Transportation Plan.
Carrboro received a Comprehensive Bicycle Planning Grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation in May 2007 to create the Bicycle Transportation Plan, which has been developed by staff with the help of Greenways Incorporated.
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