Teens charged with rape
Five local teenagers were arraigned on Tuesday after being charged with first-degree rape over an incident that allegedly took place in September near Southern Village.
Those charged are Sean Lee Crawford-Brown, 17, of 140 BPW Club Road; Mark Anthony Holland, 17, of 2201 Homestead Road; Brian Gregory Minton, 16, of 118 Marin Drive; Mario Chanquez Neville, 17, of 512 Craig St.; and Colton Sanders, 17, of 27 South Circle Drive.
According to Chapel Hill Police Capt. Jackie Carden, the alleged rape of a 16-year-old-girl took place on Sept. 2, 2006 in an “open space†near Southern Village. The incident was reported to police on Nov. 30 on behalf of the girl.
Carden said the girl was out of town at the time of the November report and police had to wait for her to return to interview her. She said that was one of the reasons for the delay between the incident and charges being brought.
On Tuesday in Chapel Hill, District Court Judge Alonzo Coleman set bail for the suspects at $200,000 each.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Crawford-Brown was the only suspect free on bail. The other four teens remained at the Orange County Jail.
Blood Drive set for June 5
The 19th annual Carolina Blood Drive will be held June 5 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center at UNC. The local and campus communities are invited.
To register to donate, call 96-BLOOD (962-5663) or visit www.unc.edu/blood through June 4. Appointments are advised, but walk-ins will be taken. Parking at the Smith Center will be free for the day.
Donors will be entered in a drawing to win one of two $750 gas cards. They also will receive free T-shirts with basketball logos (the image is posted on the site). More than 40 vendors will contribute foods from which participants may choose after they donate.
Because of increased travel and planned surgeries during the summer, blood donation is especially needed during the season. The drive goal is 1,000 units. Blood drive organizers are asking everyone to be part of this event to help save lives.
Roads to close for baseball finals
UNC will host the National Collegiate Athletic Association regional baseball finals Friday (June 1) through Monday (June 4).
Travel on Ridge Road and access to several campus parking lots will be affected because of the games and related traffic.
The section of Ridge Road from Country Club Road by UNC’s School of Law to Stadium Drive by Avery and Parker residence halls will be closed to through traffic beginning at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Friday (June 1) and 10:30 a.m. on Saturday-Monday (June 2-4). The road will reopen after each day’s games.
The S10 Boshamer Lot, S3 Lot, Lower Ehringhaus K Lot and the S4 Avery Lot will be closed from 6 a.m. Friday (June 1) until 11 p.m. Monday (June 4).
Stadium Drive will remain open to through traffic throughout the tournament and no buses will be detoured.
Public parking is available for $5 in the Rams Head Deck along Ridge Road just to the west of Boshamer Stadium.
This will be the second year in a row and only the second time since 1983 that UNC has hosted the NCAA baseball regionals.
For more information about the games, go to www.tarheelblue.com. For parking questions, visit the UNC Department of Public Safety Web site at www.dps.unc.edu/dps/breakingnews/breaking_news.asp.
Groundbreaking for Southern park
The public is invited to a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, June 4, for the Southern Community Park located south of Southern Village and west of Highway 15-501. The ceremony will take place at the edge of the woods at the southern end of the Southern Village Park and Ride lot off Market Street in Southern Village.
The event will conclude with a tour of the 72-acre park site. The park currently has a one-and-a-half-mile temporary natural-surface trail for pedestrian and mountain bike use.
It will become the 11th and largest park in Chapel Hill. The $4.7-million project will feature three soccer fields, basketball courts, an inline hockey court, a dog park, a meadow area, trails, a play area and a disk golf course. Two planned parking lots will give access from Highway 15-501 and Dogwood Acres Drive.
Construction is scheduled to begin in late June or early July 2007 and be completed in mid-2008. The athletic and soccer fields are expected to be ready for play in August 2009. The project is being funded by Orange County, Chapel Hill and a North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant.