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Miscellany

Why we should support our hometown newspaper


Jock Lauterer

By Jock Lauterer

Look, I’ll be straight up with y’all: this ain’t spin.

While I have no financial capital invested in this paper, I do have a vested interest in the well-being of The Carrboro Citizen. Because I was present at the moment of conception and birth, if you will, I consider myself this paper’s Fairy Godfather (think: Disney’s “Cinderella”).

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Miscellany

Fire station on the Holly tree site


Holly tree that is located at Carrboro’s future fire station site is estimated to be 200 years old. Photo by Ken Moore

By Ken Moore

Please Note: In my enthusiasm last week for “hugging” that 200-year-old Persimmon tree on the university campus, I failed to credit Betsy Green Moyer, photographer and co-editor of Paul Green’s Plant Book, for the image of that grand old specimen. (Betsy Moyer’s photo of the seldom-noticed tiny Persimmon flower appears on The Citizen website.)

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Miscellany

Obituary – Linda Hazel Rickman Comer

Linda Hazel Rickman Comer, age 66, died Sunday, May 20, 2007, in Chapel Hill, NC, from complications related to Alzheimer’s Disease. Linda was born August 14, 1940, in Durham, NC. Her parents were Aylor Louis Rickman and Hazel Dowdee Rickman. She was a graduate of Durham High School and Watts School of Nursing. She was retired from UNC Hospitals.

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Miscellany

Loss of mural has many asking ‘why?’


Joe Patillo didn’t know he was part of an unauthorized painting crew that destroyed a community mural. Patillo says he was duped and, to top it off, didn’t even get paid. Photo by Kirk Ross

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

A bizarre chain of events Tuesday erased a mural painted five years ago by scores of residents as a community-building event — an act that has many outraged and wondering why someone would do such a thing.

“It’s really, really strange,” Francis Chan, owner of Jade Palace, said about the mid-day painting over of the community mural on the West side of his restaurant. “Why would somebody do this? It’s insane.”

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Miscellany

Foushee takes a seat


Braxton Foushee is back in action. He rejoined the OWASA board as Carrboro’s representative last month. Photo by Kirk Ross

By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

Once – when there was no Caribou Café, nothing in the way of a sandwich that wraps, and certainly no luxury boutique hotel – Braxton Foushee sat down at Colonial Drug to be served.

Chapel Hill was even then a bit more progressive than the majority of the South, and a young black man’s money was readily accepted in a Franklin Street business such as Colonial. But that young man’s subsequent presence certainly was not. Order to go and be gone – that was the nature of it when Foushee and others instead sat to be served. It was February 1960. For nearly a half century, Foushee has continued to live a life in service to his community.

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Miscellany

The Persimmons are flowering


Giant 200-year-old Persimmon tree on UNC campus’ Polk Place

By Ken Moore

“Wow, how about that Persimmon flower!”

“I don’t see any flower!”

“There it is, right there in that little angle, where the leaf is attached to the stem.”
“All I see is a little green thing!”

“Yeah; that’s it! A tiny little green flower. How many tiny little green flowers do you ever get to see? Is that cool, or what!!!”

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Miscellany

Town, DOT look at new Smith Level widening


New turn lanes are being added now, but Smith Level Road is in for even more changes under a new widening plan. Photo by Kirk Ross

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Roundabout proposed near Carrboro High

After years of difficulties reaching an agreement, the Town of Carrboro and the state Department of Transportation have a new draft and a tentative agreement on the widening of Smith Level Road.

The project, which now has a price tag of $5.2 million, was first proposed in 1990. The new design includes widening the road from the Morgan Creek bridge to BPW Club Road to four lanes with a center median, bike lanes and sidewalks. The road would then narrow to three lanes with a center turn lane to Culbreth Road, narrow again from that point to two lanes with a center turn lane to a roundabout at Rock Haven Road, then narrow down to its current two-lane configuration.

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Miscellany

Mental health clinics closing

By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

Local elected officials are concerned with the recent announcement of a restructuring of services for mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse in Orange, Person and Chatham counties. The Orange-Person-Chatham (OPC) Area Program – the local government agency tasked with providing oversight and management of these services – has announced that a private service provider with whom it contracts, Caring Family Network, plans to restructure its offices in both Orange and Chatham counties, and that the move will have an effect on service capacity.

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Miscellany

Graffiti arrest underscores Carrboro/Alamance gang rift

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Three local teenagers were charged last week with several counts of gang-related vandalism in the southeast section of Alamance County.

According to the Alamance County Sheriff’s Department, investigation of the incidents indicated a possible ongoing conflict between alleged gang members from Carrboro and Alamance County.

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Miscellany

Board wants OWASA to go after water wasters

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Taking a second look at OWASA’s proposed rate hikes Tuesday night, members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen said they’d like to see even higher rates for people using the most to keep rates lower for those trying to conserve.

With a growing system and major projects looming, the utility’s board of directors is studying a plan to increase water rates by an average 6.25 percent and sewer rates by 13.75 percent, along with a large increase in its one-time hookup fees for new users.

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Miscellany

Commissioners review new county aging plan

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday approved an update to the county’s Master Aging Plan, which includes a new initiative to build aging-friendly communities throughout the county.

The plan, which is for 2007-2011, includes the new initiative, a bill of rights for older persons and a requirement that the commissioners address the plan’s objectives in the context of other county needs and priorities.