Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools has announced that Carrboro High School Principal Jeff Thomas has been reassigned to the district’s central office.

A district press release did not say why Thomas was reassigned, or what position he will fill at the central office. Thomas has served as principal of Carrboro High for two years, and opened the school last August.

According to the press release, Rodney Trice will serve as interim principal at Carrboro High over the summer until the selection process can be completed. Trice has served as director of Curriculum and Instruction for the district since March 2006.

District officials expect that a permanent appointment will be made prior to the beginning of the new school year in August.

Tony, a dog rescued just a week earlier by the Orange County Animal Services Department, noses around at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Orange County Animal Services Center. Photo by Jordan Timpy.

The animals of Orange County will soon move into bigger and better facilities, with a new Animal Services Center under construction on Eubanks Road.

County officials broke ground on the project last week. Despite sweltering heat, community members, county commissioners and adoptable pets showed up for the groundbreaking.
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The land currently occupied by Butler’s Garage is a mostly overgrown field located behind the ArtsCenter and adjacent to the bike path leading into Chapel Hill, but a new development proposal calls for the construction of a five-story condominium and office building with two decks of parking. Photo by Jordan Timpy.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen have set a public hearing for June 24 to review a plan for a five-story condominium and office complex on the site of Butler’s Garage, behind The ArtsCenter and Cat’s Cradle.

The proposal for the project — dubbed ‘The Butler’ — includes 57 condominiums and 22,170 square feet of office space with two decks of parking. Nine of the condominium units would be designated as affordable.
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by Susan Dickson
When Steve Scroggs began his first day as assistant superintendent for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, he sat outside his office and cried. After nearly 30 years working directly with children, Scroggs had made the transition to school administration, and found himself a little lonely.
“It was the first time there wasn’t a child to say, ‘Good morning, Mr. Scroggs,’” he said. He got through the day by going to the nearby pre-kindergarten to find a child to give him a hug and say good morning.
Scroggs has spent the past eight years serving as assistant superintendent for support services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the past 35 years working in North Carolina public schools. This Friday, Scroggs will step down from his post to retire, and he will surely be missed. More »

by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

After a short public hearing at Town Hall Tuesday night on the proposed 2009-2009 budget, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen asked for a small rewrite and indicated they are likely to approve the proposal at the next meeting on June 3.

The main change as a result of the hearing was an addition of $4,000 to the amount the town will send to the Orange County Land Trust.
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Manager calls for 3.23 cent tax increase

by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The town is cutting expenditures by close to 6 percent, but taxes are headed up under a budget proposal detailed for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen at Town Hall Tuesday night.

Town Manager Steve Stewart outlined a $18,476,375 budget that delays vehicle purchases and uses part of the town’s fund balance to help make up for increased costs and lackluster revenue projects.
Stewart is recommending that the town raise property taxes 3.23 cents, putting the total tax rate at 68.60 cents per $100 of assessed value. For the owner of a $200,000 home, the increase would be about $65. More »

Beekeepers to the rescue — Scotty McLean and Kirk Right of McLean Builders load up a bee box full of honeybees from the Century Center. Photo by Kirk Ross.

Pardon the pun, but it didn’t take too long last Tuesday for the buzz downtown to get around.

Late Tuesday morning, calls and emails poured into The Citizen offices about a large number of bees swarming next to the Century Center, specifically in the Foster Holly (Ilex x attenuata) on the northeast corner of Main and Greensboro streets.

As thousands of honeybees swirled in and out of the bushes, onlookers did a bit of swarming as well.

“It was a pretty amazing sight,” said Brendan Moore, facilities administrator for the Century Center. He took in the spectacle and the rapid response of the local beekeeping community, but, he said, “I did it from afar.” More »

Lorie Clark was an enthusiastic supporter of Moses Carey who lost to Ellie Kinnaird in the state Senate race. She and Obama poll worker Julia Tarr camped out all day Tuesday at the OWASA precinct. Photo by Kirk Ross.

Going into Tuesday, higher registration numbers were already indicating a heavy turnout for Election Day, when Orange County voters would cast their ballots for everything from a tax referendum to the next president. The early vote total swelled as well, nearly reaching 18,000 votes by the close of business on Saturday, meaning that 18 percent of those registered voted prior to Election Day, a total close to the average total turnout in a typical primary year. By the time Tuesday’s votes were added in, more than 46,190 had voted in the county, putting turnout at an estimated 48 percent.
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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

Six months ago, the race for North Carolina Senate District 23, which is comprised of Orange and Person counties, was shaping up as a much different kind of contest than the one on the ballot today.

A field of three — Carrboro Alderman John Herrera and two Orange County commissioners, Moses Carey and Mike Nelson — were preparing for at least a three-way contest to fill the seat vacated by a retiring six-term incumbent, Ellie Kinnaird.

But when Kinnaird, who had long hoped a woman would be in the field vying to replace her, decided not to retire and to go for another term, the field of candidates changed rapidly.

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Nothing’s confirmed, but town is readying for a major rally and rock show May 2 at Town Commons

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

No official confirmation yet, but Carrboro officials are planning for one of the largest crowds in town history after the board of aldermen greenlighted a request by the Barack Obama campaign to hold a major event Friday afternoon, May 2 at the Town Commons.

Town Manager Steve Stewart said the event, a concert and rally for the Illinois senator and leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, would be unprecedented since it will happen during business hours, while typically large events at Town Commons are held on weekends. The Obama campaign asked for the time slot, he said, because they want to be able to encourage attendees to take advantage of the early-voting site nearby at Town Hall.

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Voters tune into new registration rules, new county commissioner districts and contested races from the top of the ticket to a local tax referendum

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

With news reports along the presidential campaign trail now including datelines like Raleigh, Greensboro and the UNC campus, this spring’s primary season is heating up.

Set late in the season, North Carolina’s presidential primary is rarely a factor in deciding the presidential candidate of either party. This year, though, it may have a significant impact on the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In turn, that race is most certainly going to have an impact on local turnout.

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A reminder that regular registration is coming to a close, the early voting period is about to begin and there’s a complicated election ahead. Oh, and our Democratic presidential primary counts this year.
We’ll have a look at these and the races in this week’s Citizen.
Registration deadlines and other info and links after the jump and on our Elections & Politics site. More »

New homes, apartments may be required to have sprinklers, fire alarms

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Town building rules would have to be changed if Carrboro, the most densely packed municipality in North Carolina, wants to reduce the threat of property loss and injuries from fire.

That’s the conclusion in a report to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen delivered Tuesday night. In a meeting at Town Hall, Fire Chief Travis Crabtree outlined a number of ways the town can improve fire safety including new home and apartment construction requirements.

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Freshmen Julie Ivey (left) and Caitlin Hughes at last week’s candlelight vigil for Eve Carson.

By Kirk Ross & Emily Burns
Staff Writers

In the recorded history of this community, few stories have been sadder.

With barely a week having passed since the murder of Student Body President Eve Marie Carson, emotions are still raw; and as campus gears up after its spring break, there will be time again on Tuesday to remember a bright and personable student leader whose life ended violently near the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and Hillcrest Circle in the early-morning hours of Wednesday, March 5.

Police said Carson, an Athens, Georgia native who came to Carolina as a Morehead-Cain scholar, was shot multiple times, including at least once in the head. Days into the investigation, police released photos of two “persons of interest” seen using Carson’s ATM card and driving what appears to be her 2005 Toyota Highlander.

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