A rational pause The 300 East Main Street project is big, both in size and in how it is likely to change the eastern edge of Carrboro’s burgeoning downtown. The project, the result of a decade of discussion and “visioning,†and at least four years of serious back and forth between the town, developers and…
Category: Opinion
Drilling deception
NC Revenue system reform needed
Meg Gray Wiehe In less than two months, North Carolinians will be electing our state’s next leader. The gubernatorial candidates, Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue, have different visions for the direction they want to take the state. They both, however, have touted plans to make new investments in the state, which means they need to…
Recovery and “The Peace within Yourselfâ€
Peter Kramer September is celebrated nationally as Recovery Month, a time to recognize the possibilities and promise of a life free from addiction. This year’s theme is “Join the Voices for Recovery; Real People, Real Recovery.â€
For the record 9/11/08
Infrastructure challenged This has been a banner month for rain in a wetter-than-usual summer season. There’s cause to celebrate the fact that our reservoirs are now nearly full and the two-year drought is abated. But the return of wet weather brought with it a not-so-subtle message that Carrboro and Chapel Hill have significant challenges ahead.
Op-ed: Suffering until suffrage
Paige Johnson Recently, Americans celebrated the 88th Anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States. One hundred forty-four years after the founding of this country, women – representing more than half the population and having birthed the other half – won the right to vote. In spite of their numbers, women were the last citizens…
Letter to the editor: Airport threatens farms
As airport plans pit the university against rural Orange County, another issue is affecting about 100 largely rural Orange and Alamance County families: the decision by the county boards to consider altering the county line. In 1849, Alamance County was split off of Orange when surveyors drew a line from a “gum saplin†on the…
Letter to the editor: Eliminate Eubanks site
Our Orange County commissioners are getting closer to selecting a site to build a county-wide trash transfer station. Please support the Eubanks-Rogers Road neighborhood in their effort to remove Eubanks Road as a potential site for this new facility. Eleven potential sites have been identified. Most of the other sites are west of White Cross…
For the Record 9/4/08
Outrage, anyone? In case you’re confused about what exactly it means when the federal government withdraws Medicaid funding for a hospital or other health care institution, here’s the translation: It means the place isn’t safe. Federal investigators have made that assessment and recommended no more federal funding after looking into allegations about Cherry Hospital in…
New numbers about struggling families
By Chris Fitzsimon Numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday show thousands of families in North Carolina are no better off than they were seven years ago and many are having a harder time making ends meet. Poverty, income and health-care data improved slightly from 2006 to 2007 nationally and in North Carolina,…
Public schools: Even when they win they lose
By Elaine Mejia A Wake County superior court judge recently issued a ruling in a 10-year-old lawsuit against state government brought by several of North Carolina’s local school districts. The lawsuit alleged that the state constitution requires that the state’s public schools receive the revenue from all public “fines and forfeitures.†Revenue from criminal fines…
Letters to the editor 9/4/08
Airport questions Thank you for reporting the N.C. Legislature’s ratification of Senate Bill 1925, which essentially gives UNC the power of eminent domain, allowing them to acquire or condemn property in Orange County in order to build a new municipal airport. We are alarmed at the recent decision and believe that the government is over-reaching…
Letter from the editor
More up, less out The way planning and zoning law works in North Carolina, there’s not a lot that can be done to stop or even slow growth. As much as people — even nice, friendly, neighborly people — want to shut the gate, we can’t. This state is an inflow state and although there’s…
Drilling down on offshore drilling
Grady McCallie If polls are to be believed, a segment of the public has recently swung from opposing offshore oil drilling to seeing it as a plausible response to America’s energy problems. One possible answer, of course, is that these particular polls aren’t to be believed. For example, one survey asked, “Are you worried about…
Letter to the editor: Kidzu belongs in Carrboro
Maria Rowan Contrast Halloween on Franklin Street and Halloween in downtown Carrboro. On Franklin Street, cars are cleared from the street to make room for a 20,000-plus bacchanalia of drinking with adults in costumes like Two Men Walking a Breast. In downtown Carrboro, on the Town Commons next to the Town Hall, community volunteers organize…