Categories
Miscellany

Board looks at possible tweaks for town’s revolving loan program

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Be prepared. That’s the message James Harris, Carrboro’s economic director, said is the key to not only a successful new business, but a successful application to the town’s revolving loan program.

In a report to the Board of Aldermen at their meeting Tuesday night, Harris said the 21-year record of the program has a number of success stories, all with good preparation in common.
“The more prepared they are up front, the more they are apt to succeed,” he said.
Harris said the program should have a substantial fund balance of $412,585 by the end of the fiscal year in June.

Categories
Miscellany

Behind all the Smoke

By Chris Fitzsimon

The fierce behind-the-scenes battle continues over legislation to protect people from deadly second-hand smoke at workplaces, restaurants and bars. Despite his best efforts, House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman has been unable to convince a majority of House members to support his comprehensive plan to protect the public health.

The opposition has coalesced around a soundbite in this case masquerading as a philosophy, that somehow protecting workers on their jobs is an infringement of private-property rights. Holliman points out that he owns a small business that complies with all sorts of government regulations, including fire safety inspections every year.

Categories
Miscellany

Another regular, irregular Carolina Piedmont spring



Columbine
(Aquilegia canadensis). Photo by Ken Moore

By Ken Moore

It’s spring again in the Carolina Piedmont. That means another round of predictably unpredictable weather that sets serious and not-so-serious gardeners into an annual frenzy.

Over the years I’ve come to anticipate that when the exotic Star magnolias and the Bradford pears come into flower it’s time for the typical Carolina Piedmont killing frost. That didn’t occur this year. Global warming, hmmm? The killing frosts came later this year. I have also observed that our native species are generally not significantly bothered by these “regular, irregular” cold spells following really warm periods in early spring. Only once during my time (a sorta long time), back in the early 1980s, do I recall that native plants have been harmed by a late spring freeze.

Categories
Miscellany

Ode to an Old Friend

From the 1963 Chapel Hill High School yearbook, the Hillife, Gouger’s sense of humor comes through in labels he applied to this photo of fellow “Banshees Three” singer, Davey McConnell, left, and himself, at right. (Photo by Jock Lauterer, CHHS ’63).

By Jock Lauterer

When my childhood chum Johnny Gouger laughed, it was no delicate matter.

No, not Gouger. When something struck him as funny–which was more often than not–he would cut loose with a trilling soprano cackle, a rooster’s crow of joy, a peal of merriment that went on much too long and much too loud for most public settings.

I am sure that his distinctive yelping laughter was well known in Elmo’s in Carrboro, where he dearly loved his huevos rancheros.

At his funeral last week in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery–the last place on earth you would expect to find a good laugh–many of us celebrating the life of John Sifford Gouger found ourselves chuckling at the memory of this latter-day Mark Twain.

Categories
Miscellany

Exile on Jones Street

By Kirk Ross

Going, going, gone

Some years ago, after reading a compendium of the state’s properties and noting various idle buildings, lands and other holdings, I was among those in favor of the idea of a commission of sorts to move some of these goods–burdens, often–in an orderly and mutually beneficial manner to both the private and public sector. Blinded as I was by the good common sense of unloading some of these properties, I neglected to consider two things. First, that politics–or, rather, its unseemly cousin, the good old boys ‘n’ girls network–might take over; and, second, that one agency’s trash was another’s treasure leading to all sorts of squabbling.

What happened, to paraphrase Clemens on Golf, was a good idea spoiled. And so less than three years after creating it, the legislature swiftly put an end to the State Property Commission. One big reason for the hurry was that there was evidence that the commission might actually start doing something.

Categories
Miscellany

For the Record

Editor’s Note: Following is Senate Joint Resolution 1557—an apology for slavery passed by the North Carolina Senate on April 5, 2007 by a vote of 46-0.

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1557
Second Edition Engrossed 4/5/07
April 5, 2007

A JOINT RESOLUTION expressing the PROFOUND REGRET of the North Carolina general assembly for the history of wrongs inflicted upon black citizens by means of slavery, exploitation, and legalized racial segregation and calling on all citizens to take part in acts of racial reconciliation.

Whereas, Article 1, Section 1, of the Constitution of North Carolina, in concert with the American Declaration of Independence, proclaims, “We hold it to be self-evident that all persons are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor, and the pursuit of happiness”; and

Categories
Miscellany

April 4, 2007 issue of The Carrboro Citizen

In case you missed the paper, here are the links;

Main Story: Be it further resolved
Vocal and vigilant, Rev. Robert Campbell and the Rogers Road community continue to demand justice By Taylor Sisk

News
Broun calls for boost in economic development
Land trust appeals for funds
De-annexation bill underlines concerns
Residents to be surveyed for walking, cycling study
Town sets up greenways commission

Features
Local filmmakers producing series on ‘multiples’
Books: Anderson’s gallivant across America
Duncan wins Southern writers award
Flora: Beware the march of the Bradford pears

Opinion
Other people’s problem
Exile on Jones Street: Angry Suburban Ethos
Comment:Next Steps for North Carolina’s Children by Barbara Bradley
Fitzsimon:The Money Rolls In
The Mill: Guns, booze and ballots

Schools
Tutoring 101: one-on-one
School Briefs

Sports
Snake-bit? Nah. It happens to even the greatest.

Categories
Miscellany

Noon report

Victorian Dancing at the Century Center courtesy of the Carrboro Commons.

(Story here.)

 

Bit early today. Plenty of stuff out there to read:

• The H-S reports that school officials are endorsing a redistricting plan that would preserve the dual language program at Carrboro Elementary;
• N&O on a lot of missing percocetsat Crescent Green;
• WRAL says the FBI has a lead on the RBC robbery suspect
• On the West End of the big city, a four-story building is proposed for Roberson Street;
• The Citizen is well-lampooned by the Carrboro News

Over at Exile on Jones Street got links and quotes to two stories about the U.S. housing slump that show how its effects in NC are not so easy to predict.

Categories
Weather

Fire, Freeze, Red Flag

 t9_rah.jpg

 

Dry, windy weather this time of year gets you these kind of warnings:

 

Fire Weather Watch
Freeze Warning
Hazardous Weather Outlook
Red Flag Warning
Special Weather Statement

Categories
Weather

Freezing and such

Couldn’t be more plainly put than this from the NWS:

WEAK TROF OVER WESTERN NC WILL INTENSIFY AHEAD OF THE STRONG SHORT WAVE BEGINNING TO ROTATE AROUND THE LARGER UPPER VORTEX. VERY STRONG DYNAMICS (35/S+ VORT MAXIMA…150KT JET DIGGING SOUTH OF THE AREA INDUCING STRONG OMEGA…ETC) ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHORT WAVE WILL WRING OUT THE (FORTUNATELY LIMITED) AVAILABLE MOISTURE. THUSLY… WILL BE INCREASING THE CHANCE FOR LIGHT PRECIP ACROSS THE NORTHERN TIER IN THE 00Z-12Z TIME FRAME.

THE PRECIP TIME WINDOW WILL BE ABOUT 6 HOURS IN LENGTH (00-06Z IN THE NORTHWEST…03-09Z IN THE TRIANGLE…06-12Z IN THE NORTHEAST) TEMPERATURES WILL BE ABOVE FREEZING WITH CLOUDINESS…AND EXPECT PRECIP IN THE FORM OF LIGHT RAIN INITIALLY. THE COLUMN WILL BE
SATURATED IN THE DENDRITIC GROWTH ZONE…SO WE COULD EASILY SEE SOME MIXED RAIN/SNOW DUE TO STRONG EVAPORATIVE COOLING. IF THE PRECIP
LASTS LONG ENOUGH…WOULD EXPECT IT TO END AS FLURRIES ONCE THE COLD AIR ADVECTION GETS CRANKED UP.

Categories
Miscellany

Newspapers

Latest edition of The Carrboro Citizen is online and on the streets.

Loading up racks right now. Weaver Street Market is first on the route.