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2010: The Year in Review

Posted on December 30, 2010December 31, 2010 by Staff

Following is a month by month timeline of events in 2010. For a look at this feature including photos, view the pdf version of this week’s Citizen here.

In January
Citing the poor economy, UNC’s Tar Heel Temps announces it will close.
State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird says she will seek another term.

The statewide indoor smoking ban for most restaurants and nightclubs takes effect.

In a move that could aid plans for a new Inter-Faith shelter, the Chapel Hill Town Council approves new shelter guidelines.

The new Orange County main Library opens on Margaret Lane in Hillsborough.

Town and county managers inform their boards that it will be another difficult budget year.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools’ Phoenix Academy celebrates its first graduating class

Carrboro and Chapel Hill see a wave of car break-ins.

Real estate markets continue to slow down while the state reports record foreclosures.

In February
The News and Observer Publishing Co. announces the sale of its Franklin Street headquarters to Top of the Hill’s Scott Maitland, who plans to open a distillery.

A major winter storm drops eight inches of snow, causing a near-complete shutdown of travel and commerce, days of closed schools and widespread inconvenience.

NASA climate scientist James Hansen, members of the Sierra Club and university students and faculty gather at UNC’s co-generation plant and ask that the school stop burning coal.

Local restaurants, clubs and organizations hold a community-wide effort to raise funds for relief in Haiti after a massive earthquake devastates the country.

A debate over plans to pave a section of the proposed Bolin Creek Greenway heats up.

The family of Atlas Fraley, a Chapel Hill High School athlete who died after being left alone at home by a county paramedic, files a lawsuit against the county and the paramedic.

It grows increasingly clear to basketball fans here and elsewhere that this will not be one of the Tar Heels’ best seasons.

As filing season opens, Hillsborough police Chief Clarence Birkhead announces a run against Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass. Pendergrass, the state’s longest-tenured sheriff, files for re-election.

The community mourns the loss of Tom Robinson, who sold seafood here for four decades, most of that time from the little white concrete market in downtown Carrboro.

Chapel Hill holds a public hearing about a potential ban on cell phone use while driving.

Gloria Steinem hosts a fundraiser in Chapel Hill in support of Private Violence, a documentary on domestic violence by local filmmakers Cynthia Hill and Rebecca Cerese.

In March
Civil-liberties champion and longtime UNC law professor Dan Pollitt dies at 88.

Former Hillsborough Mayor Joe Phelps and Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Joal Hall Broun file to challenge incumbent Barry Jacobs in the race for an at-large seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

Chapel Hill adopts an inclusionary-zoning ordinance aimed at expanding the range of housing stock and making more of it available to low- and moderate-income families.

The Inter-Faith Council begins a series of community conversations on the proposed new Community House on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

A raccoon found at the corner of Columbia Street and Mount Carmel Church Road becomes the first confirmed rabies case of the year.

Local health care-reform advocates cheer on the passage of sweeping federal reform legislation after a bruising yearlong battle in Congress.

Two people are killed in a townhouse fire on Legion Road.

A wet winter has local growers scrambling to get fields ready for market season.

The Chapel Hill Town Council agrees to hold off for a while on a proposed bond sale for a library expansion.

The historic Pittsboro Courthouse is destroyed by fire.

Hillsborough police Chief Clarence Birkhead resigns.

The UNC Men’s Basketball team beats the Rhode Island Rams, 68-67, and advances to the title game in the National Invitational Tournament.

Andrew Douglas Dalzell, a former Carrboro resident suspected in the 1997 disappearance of Deborah Key, is sentenced to nearly 27 years in federal prison for attempting to seduce underage girls in an Internet chat room.

In April
Residents debate an urban deer hunt as Chapel Hill holds a forum on deer population control.

Three suspects are arrested and charged with first-degree murder after allegedly throwing a victim from a car in Northern Orange County on March 29.

Early voting starts in the primaries and the Orange County Schools Board of Education election.

Hillsborough invites the public to submit ideas on a downtown proposed rail station.

Vimala Rajendran, gaining a reputation for her Indian cooking, announces she’ll open a restaurant.

UNC is awarded a $14.5-million stimulus grant to expand its genetic research facility in Bingham Township.

Orange County commissioners cut 21 open county positions and promise to cut more as the county’s budget picture dims.

A report by Orange County Emergency Services says the service is failing to meet performance goals and needs additional funding.

A gazebo at the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery is dedicated in memory of Rebecca Clark, who died in 2009.

Hillsborough Town Manager Eric Peterson announces the town is looking into records backdating at the police department.

Chapel Hill and Orange County reach an agreement for an artificial-turf soccer field at Cedar Falls Park.

UNC system President Erskine Bowles criticizes cuts for the system in Gov. Beverly Perdue’s proposed budget.

Demario Atwater pleads guilty to federal carjacking, kidnapping and firearms charges in exchange for life in prison without parole in the slaying of UNC Student Body President Eve Carson.

Carrboro and state transportation officials say they’ve reached a major breakthrough in negotiations on a design for Smith Level Road.

Students hold a walkout at a speech by former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo. His speech on campus a year earlier led to protests and arrests.

Early-vote totals are lower than normal in the primary elections.

Census takers begin household surveys in Hillsborough.

Orange County receives a $150,000 state grant to protect 153 acres of farmland in Schley.

According to statistics kept by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, April 2010 is the driest April on record.

In May
Incumbents Barry Jacobs and Lindy Pendergrass and newcomer Earl McKee win their primary races.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall falls short of the necessary threshold for an outright win in the U.S. Senate primary and draws a second race against second-place finisher Cal Cunningham.

At a press conference with state officials and representatives of the Sierra Club, Chancellor Holden Thorp announces the university will end its use of coal by 2020.

Chapel Hill and county leaders meet to try to develop a framework for a deal on library services.

The ArtsCenter celebrates 35 years with an outdoor Cirque des Artes and a major new fund drive.

Rita Bongarten is named the new principal for Frank Porter Graham Elementary School.

Carrboro police conduct pedestrian decoy operations to snare drivers who ignore people using crosswalks downtown, handing out 47 citations.

Former U.S. Rep. Ike Andrews dies at 84.

The Carrboro Farmers’ Market launches Truck Bucks — a new currency that allows patrons to use credit cards or government food benefits cards to purchase food at the market.

Pittsboro and Chatham County officials announce a task force to develop plans for rebuilding the Pittsboro Courthouse.

Brothers Joey and Freddie Shelton are hailed as heroes for foiling a daylight abduction in downtown Chapel Hill.

OWASA officials get an earful at a hearing on a proposed rate hike.
Citing concerns about county plans for the area and asking for more information, Carrboro officials refuse to sign off on a change in water and sewer boundaries in Efland.

The Chapel Hill Town Council and developer Roger Perry of East West Partners discuss initial plans for Obey Creek, a major retail, office and residential development on U.S. 15-501 directly across from Southern Village.

Demario Atwater pleads guilty in state court to the first-degree murder of former UNC Student Body President Eve Carson. Under a plea agreement, District Attorney Jim Woodall agrees to drop the death penalty in exchange for a guilty plea carrying a sentence of life without parole.

UNC trustees approve site plans for a new UNC law school in the area occupied by Horace Williams Airport.

Carrboro approves an $18.5-million budget keeping the town’s tax rate steady at 58.94 cents.

In June
Tony Waldrop, UNC’s vice chancellor for research and economic development and a former UNC track star, is named provost of the University of Central Florida.

WCOM-FM, Carrboro’s community radio station, remains at 103.5 on the dial but moves its studio from the corner of Greensboro and Weaver streets to a building off Main Street near Cat’s Cradle.

Orange County commissioners hear from the public on a proposed sales-tax hike. The quarter-cent hike would require voters’ approval via a November referendum.

Carrboro police say DNA testing helped solve the 1984 rape and murder case of a 7-year-old girl at the Rocky Brook Mobile Home Park. George Richard Fisher, in prison for a similar crime, eventually pleads guilty in the case.

Orange County adopts a $175.3-million budget and holds the ad valorem tax rate to 85.8 cents per $100 of valuation.

The Chapel Hill Town Council approves a $52.6-million budget, holding the town’s tax rate at $49.4 per $100 of valuation. The council also agrees to sell bonds for library expansion, sidewalk improvements and parks projects.

After an investigation into department record-keeping practices, Hillsborough’s police department withdraws from the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies.

OWASA approves a scaled-down rate increase averaging 9.25 percent.

Club Nova cuts the ribbon on a completed renovation including new murals and improvements to its clubhouse.

Hog Day returns to its old spot in Hillsborough. Much barbecue is consumed.

The class of 2010 graduates.

County commissioners agree to a November referendum asking for the authority to hike sales taxes a quarter-cent. The bulk of the money would go to schools and economic-development efforts.

Author and Chapel Hill resident Timothy Tyson along with state NAACP head Rev. William Barber and two others are arrested after a sit-in protest at a Wake County Board of Education meeting.

After failing to get the deal it wanted from the town, the Chapel Hill Museum board of directors announces that the 14-year-old museum will close.

The Town of Carrboro bids farewell to Town Clerk Sarah Williamson, who started working for the town in 1972.

The Inter-Faith Council files for a permit to build a new shelter and move the IFC Community House from downtown to a site near the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Homestead Road.

Brothers Joey and Freddie Shelton receive the keys to the Town of Chapel Hill.

In July
Carrboro United Methodist Church celebrates its centennial.

The Chapel Hill Museum closes its doors and makes plans to distribute its collection.

A crowd of nearly 100 citizens turns out to protest plans for a dramatic hike in sewer fees in Efland.

Chapel Hill High student Kristen Powers, organizer of the school’s Green Tiger program, attends a White House ceremony as one of 15 high-schoolers recognized by Vice President Joe Biden as a member of Parade magazine’s All-American High School Service Team.

Open Eye Cafe’s Scott Conary flies to London to be head judge of the 11th annual World Barista Championship.

Carrboro forms its Centennial Committee.

In a summer that eventually sets the record for number of days above 90 degrees, a heat wave of 100-plus temperatures settles in for days.
Carrboro updates its invasive-plants list.

UNC announces a massive expansion of its Bingham research facility off N.C. 54 despite long-running environmental concerns raised by its neighbors.

One man is killed and two are injured in the mid-afternoon crash of a flight at Horace Williams Airport.

UNC says the sluggish economy has led to a change of plans, and a public-private innovation center will not be the first building at Carolina North. University officials also say that its AHEC air operations will likely be moved in 2011 after a new hangar is completed at RDU.

Duke Energy awards Durham Tech $250,000 for a sustainable-technologies program at the community college’s Hillsborough campus.

The NCAA initiates an investigation of the university’s football program.
Neil Pedersen, who has served 17 years as superintendent of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, announces he’ll retire.

The family of Dean Smith sends an open letter to the community saying the coach is experiencing memory loss.

A proposed framework for library services and support between Chapel Hill and Orange County gets mixed reviews, with several council members saying it doesn’t go far enough.

In August
Carl Maytac becomes the new N.C. Cooperative Extension director for Orange County.

UNC says it will relinquish its $14.5-million stimulus grant and greatly scale down its plans at its Bingham research facility.

A deal between Alamance Regional Medical Center and UNC clears the way for a new UNC Hospital near the Durham Tech campus in Hillsborough.

Former track star and UNC assistant coach Antonio Pettigrew is found dead in the back seat of his car on a bridge at Jordan Lake. His death is later ruled a suicide.

The N.C. 54 park-and-ride lot goes permit only.

Carrboro engineers and officials hold a series of discussions on the town’s pending big dig along Weaver Street.

Weaver Street Market announces that changing the discount system, cost cutting and a hiring freeze saved about $750,000 and helped the co-op turn a profit after losing $1.2 million in the previous year.

An electrical fire shuts down The ArtsCenter for a couple of days.

Longtime columnist Eddy Landreth starts writing a weekly UNC sports column for The Carrboro Citizen.

Following complaints by a national anti-abortion organization, the UNC system begins allowing students enrolled in the student health plan to opt out of an elective abortion benefit.

Chatham County narrows its landfill search.

A new solar array is dedicated at the Maple View Agricultural Center.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen deadlocks on whether to shift its banking services to Harrington Bank or BB&T.

Davidson College president and UNC School of Law graduate Thomas Ross is named as the new UNC system president.

In September
UNC head football coach Butch Davis announces the suspension of defensive tackle Marvin Austin. Several more suspensions follow.

The Carrboro High School Jaguars continue the impressive start to their football season by walloping Orange High 30-0.

Mulch sales resume at the landfill.

Carrboro dedicates its new fire station on Homestead Road, showing off its green features.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen pick Harrington Bank as the town’s new banking partner, provided the company can satisfy capitalization concerns raised by its regulator.

Cornucopia Cancer Support Center moves to new digs on Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard.

Catherine C. Wilson, town clerk for Kiawah Island, S.C., is named Carrboro’s new town clerk.

Chatham County and Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) officials hold a joint ribbon cutting to open the new Chatham Community Library and the Sustainable Technologies Building on the CCCC campus in Pittsboro.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board member Joe Green resigns to take a position at Marquette University.

A large number of nursing moms gather in Southern Village as part of the World’s Breastfeeding Challenge.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners votes 5-2 to close the county dental clinic at Carr Mill Mall and consolidate dental services at the county’s Hillsborough clinic.

Two of the six defendants charged with the first-degree kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old Joshua Bailey plead guilty to lesser charges in a plea agreement.

Despite objections by some nearby residents, Carrboro and the N.C. Department of Transportation strike a deal on improvements to Smith Level Road. It took 30 years.

In October
The Chapel Hill Town Council bests the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in a WCHL Quiz Bowl.

Hillsborough selects Duane Hampton, a lieutenant with the Durham Police Department, as its new chief of police.

An oil leak from an old underground tank causes a strong smell of oil near the intersection of Robert Hunt Drive and North Greensboro Street.

Two banks – one in Hillsborough and one in Chapel Hill – are robbed in the same week. Police say the robberies are unrelated.

Chapel Hill suspends and later fires two sanitation workers, sparking protests from the NAACP and others.

Brumley Forest, a 613-acre property between Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, is turned over to the Triangle Land Conservancy. It is dedicated to the family of George and Julia Brumley, who died with their two children and other relatives in a plane crash in Kenya in 2003.

Work begins on a new food-processing center for local farmers in Hillsborough.

Early voting begins in the general election.

Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran announces his retirement.

Chatham County receives a $25-million Rural Development loan to construct a new judicial center in Chatham County.

Neal Cassada, suspected in the 2008 murder of Irina Yarmolenko, dies a day before he was set to go on trial for the killing.

Business leaders launch a sustained effort to rally support for the quarter-cent sales-tax hike.

Orange County officials announce they have a contract on land on Hillsborough Road in downtown Carrboro as a possible site for a southwestern branch library.

Halloween in Chapel Hill continues to see lower attendance thanks to an effort to make it very difficult to get an automobile into town.

In November
In what President Barack Obama describes as a “shellacking,” Democrats loose control of the N.C. House and Senate for the first time since 1898. In Orange County, the GOP does not win a race. In Chatham, the GOP takes all three county commissioner seats.

Orange County voters narrowly reject the proposed quarter-cent sales tax referendum.

James Harris, Carrboro’s community- and economic-development director, announces he will retire after 29 years of service.

Residents express concerns about a potential deal to put a new building with a CVS drugstore as the anchor at the corner of Greensboro and Weaver streets.

OPC Area Program, the local governmental agency that oversees publicly funded mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse services, enters into merger negotiations with an agency in Alamance and Caswell counties.

Residents decry a proposal to start a town Development Agreement process on the Obey Creek project, citing decades of consensus on the property. The Chapel Hill Town Council agrees to further study before considering one.

Harrington Bank sends a letter to the town saying it will not meet a year-end deadline to settle issues with regulators. Carrboro’s banking contract is later awarded to BB&T.

Chapel Hill Assistant Police Chief Chris Blue, who moved to town when he was 12, is named the department’s new chief of police.

Developers brief the Chapel Hill Town Council on the major redevelopment planned for University Square.

A prison inmate at UNC Hospitals for treatment escapes, steals a UNC police car and leads officers from several law-enforcement agencies on a high-speed chase through town. After crashing near Mebane, he is arrested.

Two sanitation workers fired by the town of Chapel Hill file grievances with the town and a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In December
Ideas are bandied about for what to do with the old Chapel Hill Library building on East Franklin Street.

Local government, university and business leaders discuss the potential for a new collaboration on economic-development efforts.

Forestry-management plans for about 1,900 acres of OWASA-owned land near the Cane Creek Plans Reservoir draw an angry response from hundreds of residents. The utility’s board agrees to postpone a decision and extend the public-comment period.

Chapel Hill planners hold a discussion about future development in the Ephesus Road-Fordham Boulevard area.

Plans by management of The Courtyard to build an 88-space parking deck and convert top-floor spaces to apartments wins approval.

Harrington Bank officials say capital problems that led to new enforcement actions by regulators have been resolved.

The Carrboro High School Jaguars end the winningest football season in school history with a hard-fought loss in the third round of the 2A state playoffs.

Residents tell the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board that a new superintendent needs to be prepared to work hard to close the achievement gap.

In a moving eulogy at a service in Raleigh, Cate Edwards remembers the life of her mother, Elizabeth Edwards.

Brad Broadwell, Orange County’s director of economic development, resigns.

Orange County commissioners agree to plans to spend $1.47 million on renovations to the county health and dental clinic in Hillsborough.

After mixed results in the early season, basketball fans here and elsewhere remain unsure if this will be a good year for the Tar Heels.

Chapel Hill officials announce they’re in talks with University Mall owner Madison Marquette about moving the town library into space now occupied by Dillard’s instead of expanding the current library.

1 thought on “2010: The Year in Review”

  1. Katie Rohrer says:
    December 31, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    When are they going to put an Applebees downtown? Geeze Leweeze!!!!!!! K Rohrer out!

Comments are closed.

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