Stuff by Fred

IT’S EMBARRASSING! (A WCHL Commentary)

2012-01-12T19:48:00.000-05:00

Boorish. The word has several synonyms: rude,ill-mannered, impolite, coarse, rough, loutish, uncouth, crude, ignorant, base,and a few others that must be in the dictionary. Why is it lately that we seem to have a spikein boorish behavior at sporting events? Maybe I’ve been asleep during some Tar Heel events, but I just don’tremember hearing fans engaging in boorish behavior as we heard at the last twoTar Heel games. Booing our Chancellorand our Governor when being introduced is just flat boorish, and all of thoseother words I mentioned above. Nothingwrong with having issues with someone or even having a strong dislike for them,but it seems to me that we as fans attending a sporting event should be able todisplay the kind of decorum that is associated with class. Sure, the booers were a small minority, but Iwonder what those potential recruits thought when they heard the booing lastSaturday. And I wonder what young peoplein the Dean Dome learned as they heard some of their elders beingchildish. Here we are in each casehonoring folks who really deserve it and yet the proponents of rudeness marit. There’s a school up the road thathas a bad rep because of the boorish behavior of their students duringbasketball games. Do we want to be knownas the place where adults just aren’t?

PS: For those who will want to remind me thatpeople have the right to engage in boorish behavior and many other things, Iknow that. I also know that everythingwe have a right to do isn’t necessarily right to do.

A NEW YEAR (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-12-29T10:59:00.000-05:00

This is Fred Black. Withthe coming of a new year, some follow the tradition of making resolutions thatare intended to guide our behavior or motivate us to again try to do things wesaid we would do in the last year but didn’t do. It’s pretty obvious that most who engage inthis practice don’t do a very go job of making the resolutions a reality, butwe still start the new year with the best of intentions. One of the important things that will happenin 2012 that will have a significant impact on our local community is thecomprehensive plan. The Town’s 2020Chapel Hill process is designed to include as many voices as possible,indicating what they would like our town to look like in the coming years. There are themes covering a variety of issuesand all have been invited to share their opinions. There have been three discussion sessions andmore are to come. A lot has been writtenabout the feeling that some have about the feeling that not all of the voicesthat need to be included are present. Weneed this process to include everyone so that all points of view areconsidered. Even if you can’t attend themeetings there is a website where opinions can be shared. Just go to www.chapelhill2020.org to learn moreabout the details, and go to www.2020buzz.org to read blog posts and to leave your owncomments. If you haven’t alreadyparticipated, I hope you will include doing so a priority for 2012. When the process concludes, wouldn’t it begreat for you to say, We did a good job because the “we” included me. This is Fred Black.

PATIENCE, Part II (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-12-21T13:29:00.000-05:00

In a commentary in March of 2008, I spoke aboutpatience. We had just experienced ahorrific murder of an amazing , inspirational young woman who was the presidentof the UNC student body. So here we are,1 thousand, 3 hundred and 86 days later, and now after two convictions, justicehas been served. No it wasn’t like TVwhere there’s a crime, the police investigate, the perp is apprehended, the DAconducts the trial, and the jury comes to a decision, all in one hour,including commercials.

Yes, the searchfor justice for Eve Carson took over 3 years and 9 months, but justice wasserved when the jury came back with a guilty on all charges verdict. I think the jurors did a great job, as didJudge Baddour, DA Jim Woodall and his staff, and all of the law enforcementleaders and agencies who were involved.

Some still might wonder why this case took on the life that it did andhas so much emotionalism associated with it. I think we were shaken to our core because we just couldn’t believe thatsomeone would come into the community with the express purpose of committing acrime and end up murdering the victim. Our disbelief was obvious back in March of 2008 and we realized ourpersonal security was as fragile as it was. Those things just didn’t happen here …., or so we thought.

So the verdict might bring some comfort andclosure to the family, friends and all who live here, but we still mustremember, we do live in the real world, and one where we do see that in thiscase, justice was served. May the samebe true in all cases.

VETERANS DAY 2011 (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-11-12T17:01:00.001-05:00

11/08/11 was Election Day and in manycommunities throughout our nation, citizens exercised one of our most cherishedrights and voted. Of course, someexercised their right not to vote. Ineither case, Americans were adhering to an honored tradition.
At 11/11/11/11, that is at the 11^thhour of the 11 day of the 11 month of this year, 2011, all across our nation wewill pause to remember and honor all who served, both the dead and those living,who served honorably in wartime and peacetime. Remember Election Day? We canexercise our rights – or not, because of what generations of veterans have doneto keep our nation free.

Today, we havemany of our veterans hurting, they are unemployed, suffer tremendous healthissues and feel that our nation has not cared for them as promised. GeorgeWashington told us many years ago "The willingness with which our youngpeople are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall bedirectly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treatedand appreciated by our nation." Ishudder to think about a future where our young people are no longer willing toserve.

Fortunately, those from ourcommunity and others like ours are willing to put their lives on hold, leavetheir loved ones, and sacrifice while serving all of us. It’s nice when someone says “thank you foryour service, but it’s even nicer to know that we will honor our commitments toour veterans and appreciate them. Demandthat our elected leaders at every level of government take proper care of ourveterans.

THE WOLFF CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE FLYER (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-10-26T22:30:00.002-05:00

Every time I think I can’t be surprised or shocked by something in a political campaign I’m proven wrong. When I first read the flyer attributed to the Wolff for Mayor campaign committee that warns parents that their kids will be assaulted, molested, kidnapped or killed in the park if the IFC facility is built near Homestead Park, I was first disappointed, than angered that anyone running for office would choose hate, fear and scare tactics like in that flyer to get a few votes.

Citizens in Chapel Hill would not fall for this I thought, then someone told me the other night that plenty of people agree with the flyer’s sentiment. Let’s hope not and let’s hope that people don’t believe that electing one person can reverse town policies. This kind of campaigning is just wrong and unnecessary.

Reflecting on this caused me to remember a bit of Native American wisdom.

A Grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt. He said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart.
One wolf is the vengeful, jealous, angry, violent one.
The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one."
The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?"
The grandfather answered, "The one I feed."

I just don’t believe people in Chapel Hill are confused about what’s right for this community and we will not support hate and fear. Please vote and encourage others to vote too.

FESTIFALL (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-10-03T17:07:00.000-05:00

Wow! Sunday we celebratedFestifall on Franklin Street and what an amazing event it was! Big thanks to all of the Parks and Recstaffers, other town staff members, volunteers, the entertainers, and all ofthe folks who operated booths. Theweather was beautiful, the booths offered all sorts of arts and information,ant there were events for kids of all ages. The entertainment was varied and appealed to a variety of tastes.

The four hours we spent walking around andtalking to friends and neighbors was just plain fun. It was good to see some of the FranklinStreet businesses open and they seemed to be attracting customers. I have two observations though that I want tothrow out. First, it didn’t seem thatthe street was as crowded as it has been in prior years. I don’t know if there is attendance dataavailable that can confirm or refute my observation, but it would be good tofind out. Second, there just didn’t seemto be as many Chapel Hill citizens participating as I would have hoped. Nothing scientific about this observationeither.

It’s great that visitors come tosupport our event, but where were the people of Chapel Hill? It just seems to me that since we only haveone street event a year, we would support it. I would hope people would come to a downtownevent that they pay for and I hope they harbor no negative impressions of ourdowntown. I don’t know if that’srelevant in this case, but it would be great if we supported the Town, thestaff and volunteers through our participation. Festifall was a ball!

I'M READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL! (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-09-06T13:20:00.002-05:00

Of all of the thoughts that I might have today, doing away with Division I athletics at UNC is not one of them. I will let others build their arguments to support their desire to throw in the towel to excise what they consider an evil so awful that the only solution is expunging it all together. Sure, there are problems from time to time in an intercollegiate sport, but the solution is not to quit. When faced with a challenge, the solution is to use our collective brainpower to solve the problem.

Quitting is contagious and habit forming. Once you learn to quit it is so much easier to do it when you face the next challenge. Therefore, I’ll be in Kenan Stadium on Saturday cheering on the Tar Heels. I will applaud those men who are out on the field representing our university, as they learn about life and living, lessons that reinforce what they learn in the classroom and lessons that enhance their character development, personal growth, and mental toughness. Quit the ranks of Division I Football? Not a chance.

I hope our community rallies around our team, this program, and our University leadership as we begin this new season, and let’s not forget about being great hosts to the fans that will pour in to our community and be a major component of our economic well-being. Being active fans and supporters does not mean that we ignore what needs to be fixed to make us better or that we condone bad behaviors; it means that we won’t quit in the face of challenge.

A Way to Serve

2011-08-13T09:20:00.001-05:00

I heard a news report the other day that Orange County wanted people to know that there were vacancies on some of their boards and commissions and they wanted people to apply. With over 40 different boards and commissions that provide opportunities to serve, citizens have an opportunity to bring their skills, knowledge, abilities, and common sense to a wide range of issues and make recommendations to the County Commissioners.

As of early August, the county was looking for almost 80 people to serve. Chapel Hill also relies heavily on citizen volunteers to serve on the over 20 boards and commissions that they appoint people to. As of July, they had almost 30 appointments they needed to make. Carrboro lists 29 boards and commissions and they too are looking for a few good citizens. Each of the governments provides information on the positions and have their applications online.

I think service in this way is meaningful and really does contribute to our towns and county. Making recommendations as a board or commission doesn’t mean that the elected officials will accept that recommendation but it does mean that you and your fellow members provided input.

Let’s hope that enough citizens will volunteer and fill all the vacancies and continue this significant tradition of public service. And let’s also hope that our elected leaders will appoint the right people for the right reasons.

Fireworks! (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-08-02T18:25:00.001-05:00

One of the wonderful things that the Internet allows us to do is to keep up with things while you are traveling. While away, I read that the Chapel Hill News gave the Town “Raspberries” for what they called a “shortsighted decision to do away with the July 4 celebration and fireworks show this year.”

We happened to be in Indianapolis, Indiana for the 4th and we had the pleasure of viewing two firework displays. The first followed a great minor league baseball game and it was a delightful display of good old time 4th of July fireworks. About the time that show ended, another one began in the downtown area. This display was the end of a series of events held downtown to celebrate the 4th, and the fireworks launched from the roof of the Regions Bank building were truly spectacular.

A local resident told us that the year before the celebration was close to being cancelled because of funding, but Regions Bank and others in the business community stepped up and made it happen.

When I read about the “Raspberries” given to the Town, I wondered why we seem to think that only the Town is responsible for the fireworks display. Maybe the Chapel Hill News could sponsor the display, or bring other civic-minded businesses together to sponsor our fireworks. Other communities seem to make this happen as we witnessed in Indianapolis, so why not here. I think a new sponsorship model could make this an even bigger and more popular community event!

THE FIELD IS SET! (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-07-20T09:12:00.001-05:00

Now that the period to file for the 2011 election has ended, we know who will be on the November ballot. In Carrboro, the mayor is un-opposed and four people, including two incumbents are running for three aldermen seats. In the school board election, seven people, including three incumbents are running for the four, four-year seats and one person is running for the two-year seat. Now in the Chapel Hill election, we have three running for mayor, including the incumbent and nine running for the four Council seats, including three incumbents. I think back in 2001 we had 10 running for the Council and 12 in 2003, so this might be as interesting as those elections were.

These are important times at all levels of government, and clearly, elections matter. Just because we also know that the campaign time can easily be referred to as “silly season,” that’s no reason for us to tune out. Thus, I really perked up the other day when I heard the “What You’re Saying on the Street” segment. People were asked if they followed the news surrounding local elections and if they were interested in local politics. Some answered affirmatively and explained why they follow local politics while some of our citizens indicated that they were just too busy, just not interested or elections just didn’t affect them that much.

Well, now is the time to get interested, so learn about the issues and the candidates, and register if you aren’t already. You have to be a citizen who votes. So come on people, elections do affect each one of us, so get informed and act as if our future depends on who is elected, because our future does.

OUR FUTURE (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-06-10T21:29:00.003-05:00

This is a time of celebration and happiness for parents, family, and friends of our newest local high school graduates. From all indications, the Class of 2011 has done very well and many have been accepted to attend colleges in North Carolina and elsewhere. We should all be proud of their accomplishments. But we must also realize that every member of the Class of 2011 will not be attending a college or university. Some will be looking for gainful employment right here in Orange County. When they can’t find it, they will venture out elsewhere to find that elusive job.

Why should our high school educated children be our county’s largest export? We need jobs that will keep our children here and jobs that will allow those who obtain other degrees to come back home and work and live. That’s why it’s so important that we get busy with economic development. Like everything else, it costs money and there not a lot of it readily available right now.

To help fund economic development, we will have a quarter cent sales tax increase on the ballot in November. It failed by a narrow margin last time it was on the ballot, so now is the time to learn about the proposal and get folks behind it. Some of the money will also help with capital projects in the two school systems. Both of these endeavors are truly a case of we pay now or we will pay a lot more later, so we really should do this.

Do we really want to keep exporting our educated kids?

MOTHER’S DAY (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-05-06T08:33:00.001-05:00

I guess it would be easy to assume that our Mother’s Day that we celebrate on Sunday is one of those greeting card company creations, but that’s just not the case. Its early history can be traced to the efforts of Ann Jarvis and women’s peace groups who came together to celebrate their sons who fought and died while wearing the blue and the gray during the Civil War.

Mother's Day as we know it today was established by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother Ann Jarvis, on May 9, 1905, with the help of Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. West Virginia made it an official holiday in 1910, and the rest of states followed quickly. On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress passed a law designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and the next day President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the first national Mother's Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become and she spent all her inheritance and the rest of her life fighting what she saw as an abuse of the celebration.

In our modern tradition, we celebrate Mother’s Day as a time to honor our mothers and pay tribute to them for all that they have done. So let’s express our love and thanks to our mothers, and remember those who, though no longer with us, still inspire us.

2011 ELECTION: GET READY (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-04-21T08:27:00.001-05:00

Can you believe how fast 2011 is flying by? Before you know it, it will be May Day, then Memorial Day, and much too soon it will be the 4th of July and Labor Day. Then we will go to the polls on November 8th. Filing begins on July 1st at noon and ends on July 15th, so we will know who the candidates are for the Chapel Hill Town Council, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the local school board, and we already know that the quarter cent sales tax will be on the ballot.

So why am I bringing all of this up now? Simple! I believe that our democracy flourishes when we have an informed and involved electorate. There are plenty of ways to be involved but being informed is hard work. And if you believe recent polling data, many say they don’t vote because they don’t know about the candidates or the issues on the ballot.

Now is the time to pay attention to the various issues on the agenda of the three bodies that will be on the ballot. Some of the candidates will be incumbents, so pay attention to them as they address the complex issues that they must decide in the coming months. Ask yourself how you would resolve the issues. Who knows, it might even motivate you to stand for election. Chapel Hill has the mayor and four of eight council seats, Carrboro has the mayor and three of six seats, and the school board will elect people to five of the seven seats.

Sorry Impressions, but “People get ready, there’s an election coming, you don’t need to bring no money, you just get informed and vote!”

TRASH EVERYWHERE! (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-03-28T10:20:00.006-05:00

Driving down Estes extension the other day I saw a group of good folks on both sides of the road filling orange trash bags with litter. Then I read about the 70 volunteers who cleaned up in the Rogers Road area, collecting just over 1 ton of trash and just short of 2 tons of material that can be recycled. Traveling around our town and state, I compare us to other places I visit and it’s very obvious that we have a littering problem.

Let’s be honest, we have some slobs who lack pride and concern for the rest of us and the environment. This behavioral problem costs all of us. I know we have anti-littering laws and that there are fines, but it sure appears that it is not much of a deterrent. We spend millions of Department of Transportation dollars cleaning up and many volunteers invest a lot of time and energy picking up this stuff others throw down.

Why? What can we do to encourage people to dispose of their trash properly? What can we to instill the civic pride that would make talking about this unnecessary? We are at the point where something has to happen. Would it help if we make this a topic of community conversation and emphasis and increase our education efforts? Any solution has to start with us and I hope that we can give voice to this real problem and all get behind solving our littering problem.

Talk trash as you support our Tar Heel teams but don’t throw your trash down!

GO HEELS! (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-03-13T14:32:00.001-05:00

Saturday night, March 5th, was a special night in these parts. Yes, the UNC men’s basketball team soundly defeated the Blue Devils at home after losing to them at Duke back in February. It was also Senior Night and Coach Williams followed his normal practice of starting all of his seniors, even though none had ever started before. After playing 95 seconds, they turned over a 3-0 lead to the 1st string. This surely was a risky decision in so important a game that would decide the ACC regular season champion, and as special as it was, to me it wasn’t the most special thing. To me, what was most special was that we witnessed hard work, determination, and perseverance paying off.

Much of the best of what we hope will come from intercollegiate athletics is reflected in that victory. Remember the last season and how much disappointment there was with the team? Remember the early part of this season and how every critic could pinpoint with laser-certainty all the ills of the team and their lackluster prospects? Well coach Williams took two freshmen, two sophomores, and a junior who had never played a complete season and drew on their big-time hearts and abilities, and did the same with bench players and produced a solid winning team. Well-documented adversities didn’t hold them back; they became champions by drawing on their sheer determination and commitment to hard work.

We don’t know what will happen from this point on but we should be proud to have this team in our community reflecting the best of what athletics should be about.

WHAT DID WE LEARN? (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-02-16T10:12:00.002-05:00

It appears that a plan to relocate the Chapel Hill Public Library to University Mall is now unlikely to happen. I assume that this means that we will proceed with the original plan to use the bond money to build an addition on the current facility and operate temporarily out of U-Mal during the construction.

This was an interesting process that engaged many people and with varying opinions. But what did we learn from the process? First, it’s very clear that people in Chapel Hill are very passionate about their library, and from the letters, and other comments, they care where it’s located. Some like the current sylvan setting; some thought the mall would be more assessable, and others were on the fence. Second, it’s clear that whenever we have something like this come up, those who see a conspiracy in everything will be heard from. There were any number of conspiracies bandied about and as you would expect, some people believed them. Third, we should value that the manager and staff followed an analytical process to evaluate the proposal and that our Council let them work the process.

The possibility that the decision would be based on emotions or private business interests or anything other than what is the best use of our money did concern some people, but that was not how it played out. Last, I think we should have learned that the process we follow to make a decision is critical, and the more open it is and the more we deal with facts and not conjecture, the better our decisions will be. Now let’s get busy building our library addition.

WE ALL HAVE A ROLE (A WCHL Commentary)

2011-01-27T10:18:00.000-05:00

One of the things the President said in his recent State of the Union address was that the future is ours to win. I think that sentiment is just as true in our local community. Just look at the full plate that we have, everything from IFC Community House controversy, expanding the library or moving to U Mall, a new comprehensive plan and enhancing our downtowns --- to managing the budget crisis at all levels, fighting unemployment, increasing the stock of affordable housing, picking a new school superintendent, and meeting the growing demand for all sorts of social services.

So if all of this and much more is on the road to our future, what do we need to do to win? I think a few of the thing that we can do are not very difficult. We can get informed about the issues that concern us and use that knowledge. We can participate in a variety of ways, for example, by applying to serve on boards and commissions and even by running for office. We might also speaking before government, write letters, attend meetings, and volunteer with organizations that have interests we share. But being informed and involved is not enough; we must also have a commitment to civil discourse.

As Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said recently, we need to be civil and thoughtful as we work to solve the issues that face us. I think that more participation before decisions are made will make for better decisions and these better decisions can reduce the great divides we sometimes experience as we put decisions into action.

VETERANS MEMORIAL AT CHAPEL HILL

2010-11-23T11:43:00.004-05:00

On November 22, 2010 the Veterans Memorial at Chapel Hill Committee presented their petition to the Chapel Hill Town Council to create a memorial in Chapel Hill. The following is what was presented to the Council:

The Veterans Memorial at Chapel Hill Committee Petition

Project:

The veterans of Chapel Hill and surrounding area have expressed an interest in a Veterans Memorial in the Town of Chapel Hill. The interest has grown and reached a point where it is necessary to return to the town council with a veterans’ memorial site recommendation.

History:

On November 23, 2009, a petition was made by Jim Merritt, a Chapel Hill Town Council member, to create a Veterans Memorial in Chapel Hill. The petition was accepted by the town and sent to committee. There is no existing town memorial.

A committee was formed of local citizens and veterans groups’ representatives to consider options, possible location, and funding.

(See committee website at: http://www.chapelhillmemorial.org/)

In October 2010, a decision was made by the Veterans Memorial at Chapel Hill Committee to recommend the use of Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery as the site for the memorial.

On November 10, 2010, the Committee presented a proposal to the Chapel Hill Cemetery Committee to site the veterans memorial at Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery. The proposal was voted on and accepted.

The Cemetery Committee joins the Veterans Memorial Committee in this petition.

Memorial Site:

After reviewing several possible town locations and the acceptability, accessibility, and cost, the existing “memorial” plaza at the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery was selected as the most viable location. Changes to the existing site would include:

-Restoration of the existing cemetery memorial plaza to create a “go to” site at an entrance to Chapel Hill.
-Add flagpole, solar-powered lighting, a monument, seating, and landscaping.
-Modify existing walkways’ entrances.
-Solicit design proposals as part of a Master’s Program or Arts Council project.
-Rededicate the existing site as the town-sponsored site for annual Memorial Day commemoration (similar to UNC Chapel Hill’s ROTC sponsored Veterans Day event.

Financial Considerations:

Current Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation plans are for a programmed restoration of the core existing infrastructure.
Funding for an actual co-located veterans memorial would be from private, civic, and corporate donors.
Once the memorial is added to the existing plaza site and dedicated, maintenance and upkeep of the memorial site would continue under the sponsorship of the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department.

Petition Request:

The Veterans Memorial at Chapel Hill Committee, joined by the Chapel Hill Cemetery Committee, petitions the Town of Chapel Hill to approve the siting of the proposed memorial at the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery memorial plaza.

Submitted November 22, 2010

FRED BLACK
Colonel, US. Army (Retired),
Vietnam Veteran
Committee Chairman

VETERANS DAY 2010 (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-11-12T15:23:00.001-05:00

As I went through our Sunday newspaper, I can’t say that I was surprised to see the ads encouraging us to take advantage of Veterans Day specials. I guess the best time to buy a mattress is November the 11th or on the holiday often confused with Veterans Day, May’s Memorial Day. Is this the best we can do?

Our County has a program on Wednesday the 10th at 10am in Hillsborough and the UNC ROTC units will have a ceremony at 11 o’clock on Thursday, and that's great. We have about 22 million veterans in the US and about 1.5 million are women. In North Carolina, we have nearly 800,000 and almost 8,000 in Orange County. If you add all of the VA payments and retirement checks from the Department of Defense paid in North Carolina, it’s amount one-fourth of the state’s total budget. This is all to say that veterans are a real presence in our state. But are we supporting them?

Many of our veterans have health issues; many need jobs and it’s estimated that some 23% of our homeless are veterans. Because of our two current wars, we are continuously adding veterans with severe disabilities. Many businesses are aggressively advertising s their support of veterans on Veterans Day, offering meals and other services. But what else can we do? A simple “thank you for your service to our nation” goes a long way, but what’s needed more is for citizens to hold their elected officials accountable for what is done to support veterans, and especially for those in great need.

Remember, a veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. I am honored to be a veteran. Happy Veterans Day!

SALES TAX, Part II (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-11-04T14:04:00.001-05:00

OK, the dust is settling from the election and the good news is that we have once again shown what makes our American democracy so strong. The other good news is that those horrid campaign ads will no longer be on TV. I’m somewhat disappointed that the quarter cent sales and use tax was defeated by a little more than 1000 votes.

It’s not that I love to pay more taxes; I supported it because it was a better option than trying to raise the same funds from property taxes. The expected $2.3million would have helped us solve some serious issues. Opponents say the County Commissioners should cut their spending and do all of these things with the money they already get from us. Well that sounds very good and I hope that the citizens who line up at County budget hearings will remember that when they plead their case.

We are at the point where we will now do less with less and if for a moment I believed that there was even a tiny consensus on where we should cut spending, I would sure feel better. Services that some believe are critical will be cut. Programs that we have come to view as so necessary may have to go. Staff and things that make our County really special will clearly be impacted. OK, it’s great to say live with what we have, and of course, we should.

We will see how the residents of Orange County will react to trying to do all of the things we want done without raising taxes. One thing I can guarantee — it’s going to be a very taxing process.

SALES TAX (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-10-06T14:02:00.002-05:00

Very soon, we will begin early voting and Election Day is November 2. Along with the normal ballot items there will be an opportunity to vote for a small increase in the County sales and use tax. Note that I said COUNTY. Yes, it will add a quarter of a cent to our current 7 and three quarters sales and use tax.

There may be some confusion out there; it doesn’t add a quarter to the current tax, it adds a quarter of one cent. Thus, we are talking about 1 penny on a $4 purchase or 25 cents on a $100 purchase. It will not apply to food or medicine and anyone who buys things in Orange County will pay. This is one of the reasons I support this small increase: it captures taxes from visitors and retains the dollars for Orange County priorities. Another benefit is that the dollars from the tax are already targeted.

Of the expected $2.3 million dollars raised, 42.5% ($975,000) will be spent annually on economic development and local job creation; another 42.5% ($975,000) will be spent annually to support Chapel Hill-Carrboro & Orange Co. Schools; and the remaining 15% ($345,000) will be spent annually on improving emergency services and libraries. All of this will cost the average consumer $20 per year. Doing this reduces the need for future property tax increases and it prohibits future Property Transfer Tax increase referendum.

Yes, I fully support this very small increase because of the very big things it will do to help our schools, the business environment, and services like EMS and libraries. Please vote in this election and please vote FOR this to support Orange County’s future

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN! (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-09-02T08:35:00.003-05:00

It’s September again and you know this is the month that those government named big storms that come in alphabetical order love to visit us. If you watched any of the recent coverage of the Hurricane Katrina five year anniversary, maybe you were struck as I was with the number of people who said that they now regret their decision not to comply with the evacuation order and how they will never refuse to evacuate again. Maybe, maybe not.

The government mandates, requires, and directs many things, but we all know that some people are just not the complying types. Here in North Carolina the Governor has started a push to call attention to the need to be prepared for this busy and potentially dangerous storm season. Gov. Perdue has proclaimed September as Emergency Preparedness Month to encourage everyone to be disaster-ready at all times. Since I’ve lived here, hurricanes in 1996, 1999 and 2004 stand out as reminders of how devastating these things can be.

Yet in spite of all of the pleas to get prepared, some just won’t. I guess they believe that it just can’t happen here again or it won’t affect them. We all need an emergency plan, and an emergency kit. The state has a site up to help, www.readync.org. Lots of good emergency prep info is there, as well as several useful links. Hope is not a strategy, and as much as we might hope for no storms, we all still need to be ready if one does comes. Trite as is sounds, it’s still true that failing to plan is planning to fail.

PERCEPTIONS (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-07-27T20:05:00.000-05:00

Someone once said that our perceptions are reality. The problem, of course, is that it matters not whether our perceptions are factually based. Different people perceive different things about the same situation. But more than that, we assign different meanings to what we perceive and might even make things mean something else.

Chapel Hill’s downtown seems to be something that people perceived differently. Recently, there has been some attention paid to a criticism of our downtown by a UNC alum who also happens to be the mayor of another North Carolina city. Holding aside the breach of tradition in political circles where leaders don’t criticize other jurisdictions, the alum’s perceptions just don’t hold up to factual scrutiny. So why is it that so many think that we have a terribly low occupancy rate, no parking, unsafe streets, limited shopping and dining opportunities, or that one will face a host of unpleasant experiences if they venture downtown?

On the WCHL “Who’s Talking” show, I recently interviewed the executive director of the Downtown Partnership. He said that his professional peers would love to have our downtown and its extremely high occupancy rates, the retail mix, the cultural opportunities, and yes, a major research university as an anchor. Of course we have work to do to improve the downtown, but if more people ventured downtown I’m willing to bet many perceptions would change, and for the record, using the free valet parking on east and west Franklin is really a good deal.

TOUGH CHOICES (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-07-01T13:00:00.004-05:00

That we are in a very serious recession is no secret, nor should it surprise anyone that many of our citizens are great needs feel the recession in very painful ways. The great truth is that in a recession we tend to cut programs that help those with the greatest needs. Many governments start new budget years on July 1st and they will struggle to balance those budgets in the face of lower receipts from taxes and their other major income streams.

What’s interesting is something that seems to occur at all levels and it surprises me not that right here at the local level you see it as well: we as citizens have no problem at all holding two conflicting opinions at the same time. We do it all of the time! What you might ask are these opinions? One is that we want government to do more. The other is that we don’t want government to raise our taxes.

Something has to give folks! We can’t do it all. All of our wants and needs have price tags. We elect folks to make tough decisions and maybe they might feel better if they knew exactly what we wanted them to do. Right here locally we have a discussion going on. We talk about spending bond money to fund the town’s library expansion and some are upset that we are not spending tax dollars to fund a local museum that happens to be a non-profit privately owned.

What do we want to do with these tax dollars? What is our preferred outcome? Do we want to cut things that are being funded right now? Do we want to raise taxes? How can we continue to expect our elected leaders to make these decisions if we’re not sure what we want? What do you think we ought to do?

THANKS, CLASS of 2010

2010-05-05T10:28:00.002-05:00

On Sunday May 9th the Class of 2010 will graduate and go off to continue to do great things. It’s a bittersweet time, as we can be happy that all of their hard work led to an academic degree. But I hate to see them leave because of all they have done while in our community. Every time I talk to executive directors who run service and assistance programs in our community, I am struck by their comments about the significant role of UNC students.

Through structured programs and a host of unstructured ones, students are helping to strengthen that special fabric that is so critical to the essence of this community. They mentor, tutor, coach, , build, plant, dance, sing, research, lead, and organize, all to make the community where they are studying a better place. Since 2003, The Carolina Center for Public Service has a program to recognize what students have done in the classroom and as volunteers. There are 190 members of the Class of 2010 have been honored as Public Service Scholars, and there are hundreds and hundreds more who we should honor for all that they have contributed.

As Chancellor Thorp has indicated, public service is part of who Carolina is. Yes, whether through a structured program or not, let’s thank all who have rendered outstanding service while in our community; they have been great role models and great citizens. Yes, their leaving is bittersweet, but the good news is that the Class of 2014 will be here and pitching in as volunteers before you know it; after all, service to others is a Carolina tradition. GO HEELS!

THEY! (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-04-12T19:32:00.002-05:00

All over the US and even at our local level, there appears to be a lot of disgruntlement with government these days. Some think governments are doing things they shouldn’t be doing and other are unhappy that governments aren’t doing some other things. Lots of finger pointing, heated debates and passionate anger. What’s interesting about all of this is that no matter what side is making their case, it’s clear who’s to blame for every single thing; it is “THEY.” Yes, “THEY” did it or didn’t do it, “THEY” are responsible.

I checked the phonebook, the voter rolls and even Google, and nobody named “THEY” pops up. So just who is “THEY?” Well, “THEY” are the ones who will have another opportunity to maintain or take control of things because “THEY” will vote in the election coming up. Sadly, primary elections in the spring don’t bring out many voters. In the 2006 primary, an election most like this year’s, a whopping 13% participated.

Never mind that in these primaries, we are choosing party candidates for the US senate and house, state officials, county commissioners, county sheriff, county school board members and other county positions as well as nonpartisan judges. One-Stop Early Voting Begins Thursday April 15th and ends Saturday May 1st. Primary Election day is Tuesday May 4th.

If you don’t vote, is it really fair to blame the “THEY” who did vote? Let’s face it; “THEY” should be “US.” If not, “THEY” will always be making the decisions for US.

IT WAS JUST TOO LONG!

2010-04-02T17:29:00.001-05:00

On March 22d the Chapel Hill Town Council had a meeting. Nothing surprising with that, but this was a long meeting, a really long meeting. It went on for five and one-half hours. That’s right, it started at 7pm on Monday and ended at 12:35 am on Tuesday. That’s 335 minutes, or 20,100 seconds.

In other words, it went on for a long time! Why? Because there were lots of major things to discuss packed into the agenda, not to mention petitions and reports to the Council. There’s plenty wrong with meeting this long – any meeting over three hours is just wrong! The council members are not at their best, the staff has to still come to work in the morning, presenters have to sit through these things and waste a lot of their time, citizens tune out before the meeting is over, and worst of all, there may be some terrible decisions made by tired people.

I would encourage the Council and manager to take a hard look at their meeting agendas and work hard to keep them to three hours max, or better yet, two hours if possible. Sad to say, long meetings are real barriers --- a barrier for people who might want to serve on the council and still have a job, have a family or even want to have other activities in their lives. And it’s also a barrier to the public who wants to watch the process in real-time. We can and must do better!

PRIDE IN OUR HEROES (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-02-22T13:08:00.002-05:00

Hero is a word that gets tossed about loosely a lot these days and many of people see sports stars, media personalities, and entertainers as heroes. But we seem to be confused at times about what a real hero actually is. Calling someone a hero ought to be reserved for very special usage, and for a extraordinary group in our community, it is.

On Valentine’s Day, WCHL had its Village Pride Awards luncheon to celebrate the men and women who were designated “Hometown Heroes” during 2009. Congratulations to these 250 selectees who were each honored for what they do right here in our community. My favorite definition of a “hero” is an ordinary person who does extraordinary things that benefit others. These people were selected because of the extraordinary things that they did in a whole host of endeavors to make our community an even better place to live.

Weekday mornings when I listen to the Pride Award segment, I’m just amazed by all of the different things these selectees from so many different segments of our community are doing to help others in so many different ways. The majority of these people are unknown to most of us, even though we might be familiar with the actions that got them nominated. They didn’t seek publicity for their actions; rather, those who nominated them thought that what they were doing was extra special.

When you listen to the Village Pride Award segment, you can’t help but conclude that real heroes actually do walk among us. If you know one, I bet the folks at WCHL would love to hear from you.

WHAT'S LOCAL? (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-01-26T10:50:00.004-05:00

There’s has been a lot of discussion recently on what “local” means in classifying our business community. During the holidays, you probably saw the “BUY LOCAL” campaign, a way to keep our dollars at home. Buying locally makes a lot of sense, especially when many of the other ways that we could spend money dose absolutely nothing to help our local economic situation.

Then another face of the issue appeared when two members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen raised the issue about our local Chamber having state and nationally branded firms among the sponsors for its annual meeting. The problem to the aldermen is that the sponsoring corporations played a role in causing the economic crisis, contributes to global warming, and participated in domestic surveillance. As a Chamber member, I am not blaming the local entities for what others may have done. I’m very happy that some members of the Chamber agree to sponsor these events so that they are more affordable to the entire membership, and especially to us small business owners.

These state and nationally branded corporations operating locally in our community are good citizens; they participate in the life of our community, they hire local residents, their leaders live here, they pay local taxes and the give back to our community financially and in many other ways. I support them as good local corporate citizens and I will continue to do so until they don’t deserve support. Where do you stand?

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE (A WCHL Commentary)

2010-01-12T13:19:00.001-05:00

It's a new year and a new Council. I wish all of them well as they go about the difficult task of governing this opinion-gifted town. One of the things I hope our new mayor and council members work hard to do is to avoid mistakes of the past. Before former Mayor Kevin Foy left office, he did an interview on WCHL with Jim Heavner. Jim asked about defeats and Mayor Foy responded by stating that the biggest mistake was the renaming of Airport Rd. for Martin Luther King process because the Council didn’t do what it normally did, and that was to engage the public and having community dialogue before making a significant decision. When they backtracked and instituted a process, Mayor Foy said that there wasn’t a lot of trust.

Instead of learning from this mistake, the Council, he said, repeated it with moving forward with the health care debacle last year before getting community input. Since some of the key players in both mistakes are still on the Council, I hope that they don’t have to relearn this lesson once again. Conversation is surely time consuming and the process may even be frustrating, but as the Council says about the tedious development process, it produces a better outcome.

Keep that in mind, Town Council, as we are depending on you to do the right things for all of us. And just because you might not think something has a lot of interest to the community, give the community the chance to decide that.

THE RE-STORE (A WCHL Commentary)

2009-12-28T15:05:00.001-05:00

Are you aware of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore? If not, you need to know about it. The ReStore is a joint endeavor of the Durham and Orange County Habitat organizations. Open now for a few months, it is located on 15-501 near I-40 in the old Haverty’s building next to the Bob Evan’s restaurant.

The basic concept is to fill the 36,000 square feet of space to sell furniture, building materials, appliances, household goods, books, and many other things. These items are sold at a great discount and have drawn record crowds to the facility. Best of all, the funding allows Habitat to achieve their home building goals and help the environment by keeping a lot of what they sell out of the landfills. If you are able, Habitat will happily accept donated merchandise that you no longer need but useable. Your donations are also tax deductible. Habitat will do free pick-ups of large items that you need help with.

What a great way to help our community through support of the ReStore as a buyer or a donator or both. Using the proceeds to help to fund the cost of building a home for a family is really a great contribution to our community; helping the environment at the same time is just plain good for all of us. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 6 and Saturday from 10 to 5. You can call them at 919-403-8668. Let’s all help the Habitat ReStore!

STUFF ABOUT FRED IN LOCAL PAPER

2009-12-09T17:23:00.001-05:00

Retired colonel takes group's helm
Chapel Hill Herald (Dec. 9, 2009)

CHAPEL HILL -- Chapel Hill resident and Vietnam combat veteran Fred Black, a retired U.S. Army colonel, was installed as president of the N.C. State Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America on Saturday.

A past president of the state council's Orange-Chatham Chapter, Black is married to the former Sylvia M. Sloan of Durham. They have a daughter who is a labor relations specialist, and a son who is a major in the U.S. Army.

There are 19 chapters in the state council and more than 18,000 members in North Carolina. The association plays an active role in military personnel matters and especially proposed legislation affecting the career force, the retired community, and veterans of the uniformed services. Its purpose also has grown to include career transition assistance, improved member products, military benefits counseling, educational assistance to children of military families (to include enlisted) and strong involvement in military professionalism activities.

The state council serves to further the aims and legislative goals of the national organization and assist member chapters in effectively serving their members, their communities and the nation.

The Military Officers Association of America is open to active duty, National Guard, Reserve, retired and former commissioned officers and warrant officers of the seven uniformed services, the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With a membership of about 370,000, it is the country's largest military officers' association.

Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1994, Black served as a professor of political science in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. A life member of the Military Officers Association of America, he currently works as an independent management consultant specializing in leadership and organizational evaluations and assessments for both corporations, public and nonprofit organizations.

Black is a Vietnam combat veteran and a distinguished military graduate of Howard University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and his commission as a second lieutenant of infantry in June 1968. He received his graduate training in political science and public policy and administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Black is an honor graduate of both the Army's Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., and the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He is also a graduate of the National War College in Washington, D.C., where he also served as a visiting professor of national security policy.

Black has served in a variety of infantry command and staff positions with airborne and light infantry units in the continental United States, Hawaii, the Republic of South Vietnam and the Republic of South Korea. He has earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, Senior Parachutist wings and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry. His other military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal with a 2nd oak leaf cluster, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal.

NO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING, IT’S THE LAW (A WCHL Commentary)

2009-12-07T12:24:00.000-05:00

A new law went into effect on December 1st, a law that says what you will not do while driving. This law falls into the category of what my grandmother would categorize as proof that you must tell some people everything! Yes, we now have a law that says you will not read and send text messages and e-mails while you drive. Drivers in North Carolina can be fined $100 for using mobile phones to type or to read text messages or e-mail and since it's not called a traffic violation, do it won't affect driving privileges or insurance.

Apparently, some people just won’t use common sense unless a law forces them to. Surely, people who text or send emails while driving must know how dangerous it is. One study of truckers found that talking on a cell phone increases the risk of a crash fourfold, and texting multiplies that risk 23 times! Some of us might argue that as our roads continue to get busier the risk will only rise.

North Carolina already says you can’t watch TV or look at computers or DVD players while driving, but you and I both know it still happens. Let’s hope that those who do this will get the message and not put their lives and the lives of those in their vehicle and the other vehicles on the road at risk.

Driving these days is hard enough; let’s hope that drivers in North Carolina will not use their heads, hands, and eyes to do anything other than to drive as safely as possible.

PROGRESS?

2009-11-13T07:02:00.005-05:00

How do we know when we as a nation or even as a smeall community have made progress, particularly on the social front? Some like to point to the election of Barack Obama as president as a sign that we are able to look at the "content of one's character" instead of the color of one's skin. But even though we know his election did not magically solve the issues of race in America, it did tell us what voters would elect an African American to our highest office - something that is surely character revealing.

Here in Chapel Hill we face a test of our character. Here's why: before the election a council member resigned, but after the date when his seat would have been on the November 3d ballot. Under our ordinance the Town Council gets to appoint the replacement who fill the remaining two years of the seat.

There was a great deal of community discussion on this, especially on the timing of the resignation's effective date, who knew what when, and whether or not the old council or new council should make the appointment. The Council has now decided that the new Council will make the appointment in December. There are 10 applicants, but none of the incumbents running for reelection applied.

OK, here is where it gets interesting. The member who is an African American who was appointed to fill the seat of an African American who died last year was not elected to a full term. Since he did not apply for the appointment, the only way to ensure that there is African American representation on the Council is to appoint one of the two African Americans who applied.

Another of the ten who applied for appointment finished fifth in the elect-four contest we just had, and was very close in total votes to the fourth place winner. This person is white. The local NAACP argues that for many historical reasons, the Council should appoint one of the two African Americans to the seat to ensure a voice from that community remains on the Council.
(see: http://www.orangepolitics.org/2009/11/future-of-the-town-council-without-broad-representation)

Simply put, I have a lot of problems with this approach. First, the author of the NAACP paper (the president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP) is wrong in calling this a case of “taxation without representation.” It's interesting to note that the voters who did not elect an African American to the Council elected two African Americans to the School Board, and they will join another African American who is already on the seven member Board.

There are many African Americans I know in Town who are offended by this "you must appoint an African American" approach. If there is no African American on the Council, it is best explained by the campaign the candidate ran, the terrible overall turnout of 16%, and drastically less turnout by African Americans. Clearly, the outcome is not about the unwillingness of the voters to vote for an African American.

The fifth-place finisher ran a campaign that garnered him a lot of votes. Running a campaign is good prep for serving in office; you have heard directly from many citizens and interacted with them in forum after forum. Given the timing of the appointment on the heels of an election, why didn't those seeking the appointment run for office?

Well, the decision will clearly have tremendous impact on our community, no matter which way it goes. Those of us who are African American and don't support the NAACP position have and will continue to be labeled, negatively by some but not by others. Those who are not African American and don't support the NAACP position are also subject to similar actions because of their position. Those who remain silent for whatever reasons pose an entirely different question. Clearly, to put your convictions out there is character revealing.

Progress?

BACK TO THE "BIG APPLE"

2009-10-09T19:02:00.016-05:00

While in New York City a couple of weeks ago, it was clear that in the year since our last visit, change had come. You are struck with it as you start down Broadway. They have closed it as the sign indicates, created ped and bike lanes, and put out the table and chairs. Wow! And no, we saw nothing strange when we walked by the Late Show - the announcement had not been made yet.

Anytime you go to NYC, you have to be prepared for seeing what you don't usually see anywhere else. Broadway is like a magnet, it draws the unique and those who come out and take their pictures. Yes, I'm guilty too.
We saw a group of delightful clowns taking a break and enjoying their coffee on a wonderful fall afternoon.

Then there is the now-famous "Naked Cowboy." I don't get it, but you should have seen all of the young ladies hanging on to him while friends took their pictures.

The "silver" man was also out, demonstrating the fundamentals of American capitalism - put some money in his bucket and he moved. I think I also heard him humming "God Bless America!"

Also working the tourist were "Dora the Explorer" and "Mickey Mouse." They both had "tip" bags and waved to you when you put something in their bags. If you just took their pictures and provided no tip, you earned their ire.

But there is no substitute for what happens when night falls on Broadway - you see THE GREAT WHITE WAY in all of its splendor. You can't help but love THE BIG APPLE!

WCHL (A WCHL Commentary)

2009-10-09T17:57:00.002-05:00

WCHL is my hometown radio station and I’m a big fan. I got hooked when we moved here in ’94, so count me among those who were upset when WCHL was sold to Curtis Media in 1995 and moved to Durham. Jim Heavner repurchased the station in 2002 and returned it to Chapel Hill with a commitment that WCHL would remain a local service to the community and would provide a daily news and programming service that is heavily local in character.

WCHL is our community voice and has demonstrated time and again its commitment to community. Therefore it really doesn’t matter to me a whole lot who owns the station; what matters is how it remains committed to being the voice of our community. I wish Barry Leffler well as he takes the helm as CEO and Managing Partner.

So please use all of your experience in broadcasting and be a leader who will creatively efficiently to take WCHL to the place where it represents, informs and supports our community better than any other medium. You also need to prepare folks when you decide to make changes and maybe even do some listener testing before implementation.

Again, good luck to you and to WCHL as we embark on a new chapter, and oh, we won’t hold it against you because your degree is from Miami. GO HEELS AND GO WCHL!

LABELS (WCHL Commentary)

2009-09-16T09:57:00.002-05:00

We are back in silly season, also known as campaign season. There is nothing wrong with you if you thought of this as a season without end, because it does seem that way. What you can depend on in silly season is the use of lots of labels to describe people or their positions. These descriptive terms or epithets are hurled for a purpose; as the hurler hopes that the label will resonate with those who read or hear it. They don’t have to be accurate or appropriate; the goal is to paint that picture with a short phrase or word that will stick.

But how are label hurlers sure that everyone will get the meanings that they intend? Just last week a local reporter labeled some candidates as “pro-business.” Wow! Is that a good thing or bad thing? Each of us decides, but do such labels really capture who candidates are? Do we call elected officials who disapprove a business project “anti-business?” Makes you wonder, doesn’t it.

Then we have an editor of a local paper who seems to love writing columns that seem designed to poke a finger in the eyes of many readers. He had another one of those interesting labels the other day: “Einsteins of liberal elitism.” Hey, it’s a free country so he’s as free to write as he wants, just as I am free to adopt a new label for myself: “former subscriber.”

And in case you might be so inclined, you can’t in this case come back with “YOU LIE!”

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? (WCHL Commentary)

2009-09-07T02:58:00.001-05:00

Fall is in the air this week and on Saturday, Kenan Stadium and the campus will be alive with the sights and sounds of football. But it doesn’t stop at the edges of the campus – the entire community is enlivened by home football. Saturday is the first of seven home games, including a first time Thursday night game on October 22d.

Each game is an opportunity to welcome thousands of visitors to our community and show them some Tar Heel hospitality. Last year, eight Chapel Hill area organizations united to produce the “Touch Downtown Chapel Hill” campaign with the shared goal of bolstering the community, hometown spirit and economic activity during football weekends and that effort continues this year. The economic impact of one football weekend in Chapel Hill is $6.7 million, according to a recent study.

It’s good and smart that both UNC and our local businesses are working hard to get the message out that we value and appreciate the business that both new and seasoned fans will do in our community when they come to a game. The “Touch Downtown” will strive to encourage football fans, both residents and visitors, to start early and stay late in the Chapel Hill area after the game ends and enjoy nearly 100 restaurants, 50 specialty stores and a mile of family cultural attractions.

I think we all understand that a rising tide lifts all boats, so we will all benefit from being a warm and welcoming community. Sure, there are inconveniences but let’s focus on the benefits to UNC and our entire community. GO HEELS!

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

2009-08-25T13:34:00.004-05:00

In late July, Town of Chapel Hill Councilman Bill Strom announced that he would not complete his third term and would resign effective August 1st. He resigned, he said, “to pursue other personal and professional opportunities outside the community.”

By resigning when he did, it was too late for his seat to be included in this year’s municipal races. The filing period for those races ended on July 17. According to Chapel Hill Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos, had Strom stepped down within three days of the end of the filing period his seat would have been included on the ballot and the town council would have been charged with filling his seat until the election.

Now, when the council reconvenes on Sept. 14, Mayor Foy will officially announce the vacancy. The council will then set a time period of not less than seven and not more than 30 days for applications for the seat. Council members will then review the applications and officially place names in nomination. After the nominations, the council must wait at least one week before making its decision. The council will consider the opening at each meeting but is not required to make a decision by any set date. The new council member will serve out Strom’s term, which ends in December 2011.

This decision by Strom brought the blogs to life, in what had been a pretty slow summer. Some questioned Strom's timing, especially since there had been rumors of his departure for some time. Some, including this writer, wondered why he wouldn't trust the same voters who elected him three times to fill his seat. Some called on the four incumbents on the ballot to support the 5th place finisher for the appointment. Some candidates on the ballot, including incumbents, declared that they would not seek an appointment. Nothing is certain at this point except that this resignation and process to fill the seat will be an election issue.

Meanwhile, over in Carrboro, they also have a resignation. On August 20th, Carrboro Alderman John Herrera, who had already said he would not seek re-election this fall, has resigned effective immediately, five months before the end of his term and has moved out of Carrboro.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen has not decided on a process yet, but many think that they will leave the seat empty since it will be filled by the election. The Strom seat has two years; should it be filled quickly, after the election so we know who came in fifth, or what?. The interesting thing to me is the Carrboro situation received no where near the reaction that the Chapel Hill situation did. What explains the "tales" in these two cities? Timing is everything!

CAMPAIGN 2009 (WCHL Commentary)

2009-08-01T12:25:00.002-05:00

We know who will be on our ballots in November. Congratulations to all of our citizens who have decided to run for office and try to serve our community in this very special way. One difference in the Chapel Hill elections is that we are engaged in a state experiment with voter owned elections whereby candidates receive tax dollars to finance most of their campaign costs. One argument for this plan is that removing the barrier of money, candidates who might not run for office would now do so.

We have one mayoral candidate of the four participating and one of the eight Council candidates participating. The mayoral candidate participating was a vigorous supported of the plan. One not participating is a Council member who was a vigorous opponent. Nothing surprising there. But on the Town Council ballot the only participant is a second time challenger who finished 6th in 2007. What is puzzling to some is that the three incumbents on the ballot who voted for taxpayer funded elections (let’s call it what it is!) are not participating. Why is that?

I still think we are trying to fix a problem that doesn’t really exist. Money to win a seat is not the problem; time to serve is the challenge. There is no evidence that campaign spending is corrupting our elections. And I do favor publically funding those judicial elections; they give me a choice on giving my money or not. Choices matter and that’s what elections are and should beall about.

IT WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE A WALK!

2009-07-18T16:13:00.009-05:00

Last Monday the 13th of July, we started as we do each weekday - we got up and went for our walk. I don't remember anything different about that morning as we walked and talked about nothing in particular. About 20 minutes into our regular route, we were on a slight incline when the ball of my left foot rotated on a small rock, causing me to loose my balance and fall to my right.

What are you not supposed to do? Well, I did it. Instinctively, I put out my right arm to break my fall. As I rolled over I said to my wife that I think I broke it. She had no idea what I was talking about until she saw that my hand was dangling from my arm in a real funny position. She asked if it was painful and I told her that I could feel nothing. And I couldn't!

She helped me to struggle up and hold things as still as I could, we made it back to the house to get my wallet with my insurance cards (don't leave home without them!)and made it to the UNC Hospitals ER.

Since it was just after 7AM and the more "interesting" cases usually come in much later, we were greeted by a full staff looking to help someone. One staff member walked by the intake station and proclaimed, Somebody broke their wrist!" I then told my story for the first of several dozen times.

After processing in and answering the battery of questions, they took me back to begin treatment. They gave me an IV and some very welcomed pain meds that went to work quickly. I was taken for xrays and when I returned, the doc injected something into the wrist then tied up my thumb and finger with gauze and hung my arm from an I stand. He then tried to rotate the bones. The xray showed him that both were broken. He then put a temp. cast on to hold it where he wanted and they took me back for more xrays. They also took some of the elbow just to see if it was OK.

After consulting with the trauma orthopedic doc. The first question was when did I eart Last. About 9PM Sunday was the answer, and I kinda knew what was coming. I didn't know he was going to give me a choice: surgery now or a cast and surgery later. I'm a do-it-now guy so I told him, "let's do it!" Back to xray for a chest picture prior to surgery, then I "rested" in a small room in the ER. Note I have yet to be admitted.

They came after a while and took me to the OR where we did the explanations of what they were going to do and what I was agreeing to. When they put that stuff in my IV, I went out like a light and the next thing I remember was waking up with this erector set/tinker toy looking thing screwed into my hand and arm.

My doc explained that I didn't have a clean break - I had bone gravel - so they got some bone from the bone bank (who knew?)and ground some of it up and injected it into my arm. The pins are suppose to hold things tightly together for a few months so the bone can heal.

The doc had us come in the next day to his office so he could admire his work. He went into his tool box and came out with a socket wrench and a small crescent wrench and tightened me up. Wow!

I've learned that:

1. You take that pain med even if it makes you feel lousy, puts yo to sleep, and causes you to have no appetite (not that bad a thing);
2. Every night you search for a new comfort sleeping position since as the swelling goes down, you have to adjust;
3. I'll be glad to get off meds, get the use of my hand back, and be able to turn the pares of the paper while lying in bed;
4. It's great to live in a community that has such great medical care available and such a caring staff of professionals;
5. It's really great to have so many friends who are so willing to do what they can to help; and
6. It's the greatest to have wife who will lovingly nurse you back to health 24/7 and never complain about all the things the fall has changed. I can only wonder what those who have no one do when they need help!

The heck with Fridays the 13th - it's Monday the 13th that I'm going to worry about!

SOME HISTORICAL CONTEXT -PUBLIC FINANCING OF ELECTIONS

2009-06-18T10:45:00.006-05:00

In May 2008 I wrote the Town Council about my concerns about public financing. I was intrigued by the fundamental assumptions of the ordinance, so I asked the Town Attorney. What follows is the exchange with the Attorney and Councilman Strom that is now part of the public record. Note how my position got personalized in the 7th email, and my response to Mr. Strom in the 8th. Councilman Kleinschmidt concludes the exchange in the 9th email with a very "lawyerly" response.

I still believe that the Town Council would have been wise to allow two elections to come between their approval of the program and the execution for the first time. Doing that would have allowed people to consider any incumbent running for reelection who voted for or against it. Let the people speak and don't penalize them because of their legal contributions to political candidates!

ORIGINAL EMAIL

From: Fred Black [mailto: xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 2:56 PM
To: Town Attorney
Subject: VOE Ordinance
Ralph,

I wasn't able to attend the hearing last night because of another commitment, but maybe you can help me with my question. I realize that the State Board of Elections required you to use the purpose language that you did, but it says in the proposed ordinance:
The Town Council of the Town of Chapel Hill finds that:
(a) There is a compelling need to address the detrimental effects of increasingly large amounts of money being raised and spent to influence the outcome of elections for Mayor and Town Council.
(b) These contributions and expenditures may cause corruption or the appearance of corruptions in the election process.
How was this "found?" Has there been any research on this?
Thanks,

Fred
________________________________________
2D EMAIL

From: Toni Pendergraph
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 3:06 PM
To: Ralph Karpinos
Subject: FW: VOE Ordinance
RDK – we received this email from Mr. Black today at our website address.
Toni
________________________________________
3D EMAIL

From: Ralph Karpinos [mailto: xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 3:36 PM
To: xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Cc: Bill Strom; Sally Greene; Mark Kleinschmidt; Jim Ward
Subject: FW: VOE Ordinance

Fred,

You may wish to make this inquiry directly to the Council or to the Committee of the Council that worked on this project.

From my perspective, having worked with the Committee and attended their meetings over the last several months, I believe that the ordinance that the Committee has proposed for the Council includes findings that are based on the collective and individual experiences of the committee members and, if enacted by the Council, would be based on the collective and individual experiences of the Council members who chose to vote for the program. This, I believe, would include the numerous campaigns each committee member has been involved with as a candidate, as well as other experiences they have had observing and working in local campaigns, perhaps on behalf of other candidates. In addition, some of the committee members have had conversations with other candidates for other local offices and have had conversations with persons associated with local election administration at the Orange County Board of Elections, as well as conversations with staff at the North Carolina Board of Elections.

Committee members are copied on this response to your inquiry and may wish to respond to you as well.

Ralph
________________________________________
4TH EMAIL

From: Fred Black
To: 'Ralph Karpinos'
Cc: 'Bill Strom' ; 'Sally Greene' ; 'Mark Kleinschmidt' ; 'Jim Ward'
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 3:57 PM
Subject: RE: VOE Ordinance

Thanks Ralph. Maybe a committee member is able to share how this was "found" and any research that was done. I ask only because the SBOE and the ordinance direct the use of this language, but the statement indicates that the Town Council of the Town of Chapel Hill finds that the points are true. So, my question remains, how, other than anecdotally, was this discerned?

Fred
________________________________________
5TH EMAIL

From: Bill Strom [mailto: xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 10:54 AM
To: Fred Black
Cc: Mark Kleinschmidt; Ralph Karpinos; Sally Greene; Jim Ward
Subject: Re: VOE Ordinance

Thanks for your question Fred. Hope you are well, and we ought to grab a cup of coffee one of these days and catch up. I looked for you yesterday at The Chamber's reception but must have missed you....or you had better things to be doing :-)

Just to be clear about where you stand on this issue - even if the ordinance findings you are concerned about were eliminated you would still be standing in opposition to the V O E program for Chapel Hill - correct? My understanding has been that you simply don't believe this program hold benefits for the community of any sort. Please let me know if I'm misinformed.

My current thought (prior to hearing all the evidence which will be on the record prior to a vote) is that there has been reporting and editorials in the local papers over the years which support the two finding findings - and I will see that some of these articles are entered into the public record when the hearing continues on 6/9. I also believe Ralph's response to your inquiry was a reasonable representation of the feelings and beliefs of the committee members.

I sure hope you can appear at the hearing on 6/9 and make your concern known, or if you wish I will offer your emails for the public record. I expect they will be discussed by council at that time regardless since you clearly raise a good point (or two).

Regards,

Bill

Chapel Hill News Editorial Sunday, February 16, 2003

Mayor's race shows need for reform

Chapel Hill has a campaign-spending law that's better than most.
The law limits contributions to $200 per individual in an election, and it requires disclosure of any donors who give more than $20. That's much more restrictive than state law, which "limits" contributions to $4,000 and has a $100 threshold for disclosing contributors' names.

But even with the tighter restrictions, spending in the last Chapel Hill mayor's race was double the amount from the previous mayoral race in 1999 and more than triple the amount spent in 1995. Democracy North Carolina, the Carrboro-based public interest group, released a report last week calling the trend "troubling" and urging public financing of campaigns in Chapel Hill.

In the 2001 mayoral election, Kevin Foy beat Lee Pavao, 57 percent to 39 percent. They each spent more than $25,000 on the election, for a total of $51,000, or $6 per vote.

The Democracy North Carolina study made several troubling findings about that election:
-- Most of the money - $43,100 - came from 247 people who gave $100 or more. Put another way, 84 percent of the spending came from less than one half of 1 percent of the population.
-- More than a third of Pave's major donations came from people connected to the development industry.
-- Foy did not disclose the occupations of most of his large donors. Pave did, although the descriptions often were vague.
-- Each candidate ended up digging into his own pocket to finance the campaign - Foy $9,800 and Pavao $4,354.

As Democracy North Carolina points out, those kinds of entry fees put the mayor's race out of the spending range of many ordinary citizens. They also subject candidates, when they are elected, to undue pressure from their contributors.
The report doesn't address a key question: Why have campaign costs escalated so much in recent years? Chapel Hill is not a television market, but the costs can be attributed to increasing sophistication of campaigns. Both candidates spent heavily on direct mail - which entails hefty printing and postal expenses - and Foy also employed a paid campaign consultant and polling in his campaign.

Unfortunately, the lesson from the election is that such expensive tactics work, and they thus will become the norm in future elections.

Unless, that is, the town does something to short-circuit the spending cycle. Democracy North Carolina offers a good alternative. The organization is proposing for Chapel Hill a "voter-owned elections" program that would give candidates public funding in exchange for accepting spending limits.

The proposed limits would be $10,000 for the mayor's race and $5,000 for a town council seat. To qualify, candidates would have to raise small donations of $5 to $10 from a minimum number of contributors - 200 for mayoral candidates, 100 for council.

The program would be voluntary, and non-participating candidates would be free to spend as much as they want, within the existing laws.

We think this model, in some form, is a good idea. It would instantly curtail campaign spending, level the playing field for all candidates, lower entry barriers for the non-wealthy and, most important, eliminate influence of special interest groups. There will be objections to the notion of using taxpayer money to fund campaigns - the 2001 election would have cost about $80,000, Democracy North Carolina figures - but that cost is more than offset by the benefits in terms of clean campaigns and better candidates.

Chapel Hill prides itself in being on the cutting edge of progressive government. There is no better place to start than with campaign finance reform.

________________________________________
6TH EMAIL

From: Fred Black
To: 'Bill Strom'
Cc: 'Mark Kleinschmidt' ; 'Ralph Karpinos' ; 'Sally Greene' ; 'Jim Ward'
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 3:20 PM
Subject: RE: VOE Ordinance

Bill,
I do not support this program and I was struck by the assertion in the purpose statement that seemed to be anecdotal at best. Are they really findings from some sort of rigorous examination of the issue? I think the Council can do better if serious about making the point. The Council seems to require a much higher standard from others who appear before them, but it doesn't seem to me that in this case the Council is holding itself to that same standard. If my perception is incorrect, remember, many perceptions are but they are still perceptions.

Your write, "My understanding has been that you simply don't believe this program hold benefits for the community of any sort. Please let me know if I'm misinformed." That is not my position. In the email that I sent to each member of the Council, I laid out my concerns about the assumptions that are built into the ordinance. I wrote Ralph about the language of the Ordnance purpose statement, and in particular, the "finding" language. This is not to say that it might not do something beneficial at some point, but in my opinion, it has problems and it just doesn't rank higher than many other important priorities in my mind. I would rather us our limited resources on things other than subsidizing campaigns.

I really think our leaders at all levels of government will be put to the budget test as the economic pressures increase and our available dollars are reduced. When I add potentially $60K for the art position and $50K for this program, I see $110K going to things that are not as high a priority in my mind and the minds of some other citizens. It's sad, but too many are unwilling to bother speaking out because they sense that the majority vote is already there, so why bother they ask.

I just think we can do better as stewards of our limited resources than spending this kind of money on a problem that has not been adequately described.

Fred
________________________________________
7TH EMAIL

From: Bill Strom [mailto: xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 5:11 PM
To: Fred Black
Cc: Sally Greene; Mark Kleinschmidt; Jim Ward; Ralph Karpinos
Subject: Re: VOE Ordinance

OK Fred - Thanks.

I respect your opinion and I take comfort knowing that you care enough to make your position known to me. You will recall that I was elected in 1999 - and at that time I made a significant issue out of public finance of campaigns in Chapel Hill....so this has been a priority for me for a while which I have made clear to the community.
We have spoken about balance and trade-offs when serving on council in Chapel Hill as well as how important it is to respect diverse opinions in our community. I've heard from many who don't think the aquatic center is a good idea, others who don't like the new Economic Development position, and others who think we ought to stop the library expansion. It just seems that the council must balance interests and provide across the board for the community's very diverse priorities. So you can hack away at Public Art and Voter Owned Elections, but it seems very political and divisive to me given the broad perspectives as well as the scale of the budget in this community. These are things I know you understand.

Again - I hope you come to the public hearing and make your position known.
I will be happy to provide any comments you wish to submit for the public record should you not be able to participate.
Have a great weekend -

Bill

________________________________________
8TH EMAIL

On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 9:17 PM, Fred Black wrote:
Bill,

Thanks for your response. I see no reason to personalize this but I do see a need to compare apples to apples. Those of us who worked on the bonds spent a lot of time informing citizens about their purposes and their cost in future years if approved. As I remember, a very significant majority of the citizens who voted supported the bonds. I see a real difference between decisions made by voters on large capital expenditures that were seen as an investment in our future and decisions made by the Council. As I said before, just stating that there is a problem with money in our elections and that more people would be willing to run with VOEs and demonstrating that it's the case are two different things.

So yes, we elected you to make decisions that include having to balance demands and make trade-offs between competing interests, but please don't make equivalent what voters approved with what the Council itself must decide.

Fred

PS: I had an EmPOWERment Board meeting yesterday during the reception – still haven't figured out how to be in two places at once!
________________________________________
9TH EMAIL--

Mark Kleinschmidt
Chapel Hill Town Councilmember
on the web at: xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx

Town Hall --
405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

From: Mark Kleinschmidt [mailto: xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 8:23 AM
To: Fred Black
Cc: Bill Strom; Sally Greene; Jim Ward; Ralph Karpinos
Subject: Re: VOE Ordinance

Hi all,

Fred,

The ordinance and resolution as presented for public hearing articulate "proposed findings" that if voted on by a majority of council will then become the what the Council finds justifies adoption of the resolution. While you might disagree with the findings as proposed, they were generated by the Committee during the process leading up to the public hearing. The information was gathered from many sources including the originating petitioners, as well as research conducted by NC Voters for Clean Elections and Common Cause. Support was also gleaned from the successful experience the State Board of Elections has had administering the state-wide races for appellate judges. The information presented (both to the committee and through public hearing to date) has been strong evidence in support of approval for these proposed findings and is based on the experience of other jurisdicitions as well as anecdotal information. I believe the committee does not deem it necessary to wait for a time when actual corruption might occur -- which would seem to just invite community harm. And, while corruption is certainly something that we desire to avoid, it is not the only impetus for reform. The evidence does show greater citizen participation in the communities in which it has been enacted both in the numbers of candidates on a ballot as well as actual voter participation.

We are in public hearing on this issue. It is the time during which evidence in support and in opposition to proposed findings is presented. This is not unlike public hearings on other issues such as development projects where proposed "findings" are presented to the Council, and evidence is gathered (both anecdotal and otherwise) in support and in opposition prior to a Council vote. Rarely will all evidence presented be exclusively in support or in opposition

Also, it is the belief of no one that any single program can solve all the symptoms of a particular ill the community may be facing. Sure, some may be put off from running for Council solely because of the time commitments, perhaps they have deep pockets of their own and time is the only barrier. Council has been directing the staff, since the hiring of our new manager, to implement several reforms that we hope will impact the time commitment. For me, the most notable have been the changes in the budget process and agenda preparation. But as is the case with many, I'm sure, the newly found time scavenged from one aspect of the job is quickly put to work doing other things. For example, I've spent a great deal more time doing work on several Council committees and responding to constituent issues. But, admittedly, my experience is anecdotal, other Council members my feel differently.

These kinds of changes don't require ordinance changes and don't involve the kind of work the public usually sees, but just because some reforms aren't accompanied by public hearings and Council votes doesn't mean nothing is being done.

Thank you for the questions.

Mark

PUBLIC FINANCING (WCHL Commentary)

2009-06-17T18:43:00.003-05:00

Soon those campaign signs will spring up all over town, but this year something will be different if you are a Chapel Hill taxpayer ― you will have paid for some of the signs, whether you wanted to or not! Under our publicly financed elections experiment, some candidates this year can ask for tax dollars once they qualify as a serious candidate.

One of the goals of the program is to broaden who participates. Another is to reduce the influence of “big money” in our campaigns. I’m not sure that $250 buys a lot of influence and even if special interests bundle contributions, aren’t candidates able to see it for what it is and reject the contribution? But most troubling is the provision that if a publicly financed candidate is outspent by one not participating, then the publicly financed candidate gets even more of our tax dollars in the form of "rescue funds."

This is troubling because to me because I see it as a violation of the First Amendment’s protection of political speech. Note that anyone can spend whatever he or she likes for or against a candidate as long as he or she is independent of the candidate. So what are we really restricting?

We shall see how the program gets evaluated after the election, but as you move around the community, remember that in these troubling economic times, your hard-earned money will finance candidates that you might not want to support and buy some of those signs. And yes, your political speech rights have been clearly diminished.

WHAT FUN!

2009-06-07T19:13:00.012-05:00

Sometimes, the best thing to do is to take some time away from the daily routine and hit the high seas! That's just what we did - we took a cruise to Bermuda, and it sure was a great decision.

We sailed from Norfolk, VA Saturday morning where they have done a great job of building a port facility that is truly competitive with others within easy driving range of Chapel Hill. Our ship was the Grandeur of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean vessel. Five nights was just long enough to get you spoiled with their exquisite service, fine dining, entertainment, opportunities for relaxing by the pools or on the decks, and all the other things we enjoyed. Sunday night's dinner was formal and included a "meet and greet" with the ship's captain.

We docked at King's Wharf in Bermuda early Monday morning and didn't sail until late Tuesday afternoon. It was our good fortune to have a tour guide for Monday who showed us the entire country and taught us a lot about Bermuda. Our Howard U. classmate, Dr. the Honorable Ewart F. Brown, J.P., M.P., just happens to be the Premier of Bermuda and the Minister of Tourism and Transport. Even though he was off island while we were there, he arranged for us to have an amazing tour guide who took great care of us -we wanted for nothing.

We saw a lot of interesting homes. Here is an example of one of the "little" homes that we decided might be suitable. The buildings are lovely pastels and the roofs are designed to draw the rainwater off and into storage tanks.

Here are some of the beautiful homes that we saw as we toured around the islands.

Cars are typically limited to one per home so you see a lot of scooters. With gas at $8 per gallon, that made sense to me!

But if you don't like scooters, there are other options.

In downtown Hamilton, the capitol, we liked the feel of the streets and the shopping area. Note the tourist crossing where it clearly says not to!

The trip back to Norfolk seemed to go too fast. There were lots of activities and of course, there was the ice carving demo on the pool deck. I didn't get a shot of the belly-flop contest, but trust me, it wasn't pretty! Many spent hours in the casino and I suspect the house continued its winning tradition. Bingo, the spa. workouts, running laps, towel folding class, rock wall climbing, card games, dancing, and best of all - food available whenever you wanted to eat - seemed to be the way people spent their time. Getting that one hour back on the return trip helped a lot!

There was lots to see and do and we only scratched the surface. We certainly will return to see more of this amazingly beautiful land and meet more of the friendly people of Bermuda. It is now on our list of places that we highly recommend!

CHAPEL HILL PUBLIC LIBRARY (WCHL Commentary)

2009-02-18T10:24:00.005-05:00

There’s an old saw that says that the devil is in the details. Most of us have had experiences that tend to prove that point, and I thought a lot about this in the last few days as I listened to the Chapel Hill Town Council and citizens on WCHL talk about whether or not we should build a branch library. On February 9th, the Council rejected suggestions to seek an alternative to the expansion to the current Chapel Hill Public Library and maybe consider going in the direction of a branch, maybe downtown.

Then, the other morning on the 'What You're Saying on the Street" segment on WCHL, I heard some citizens indicate that they thought having a branch might be a good idea. Well, the devil is in the details. We are fortunate that we have citizen volunteers who are willing to give their time and talents as members of the Library Board of Trustees. Over 10 years ago when I was one of the nine trustees, we examined this issue in depth as part of the process leading to the recommendation to expand the current facility.

We concluded, just as the current trustees have, that a branch was not cost effective for Chapel Hill and that we would be better served by having just one facility that was larger in space and had more staff. These tough economic times have meant a belt tightening and our library has had to cut its hours; others in our region have put their branches on the chopping block. We don’t need to follow that path, and when the bond market improves, I’m glad that Chapel Hill will proceed with the library expansion.

THE HISTORIC 2009 INAUGURATION

2009-01-22T14:15:00.015-05:00

January 20, 2009 is a date that will be remembered for a long, long time. Getting to the scene in this picture is a real story and part of the experience that made this day so special.

We learned on January 6th that we had tickets when Congressman David Price (NC-4) sent us an email:

"Thank you for contacting my office to request tickets to the Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony for President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. I am pleased to offer you two (2) standing tickets to attend this historic event.

"The enthusiasm surrounding the election of Barack Obama to be our nation's forty-fourth president has been overwhelming. I received requests for over 25,000 tickets - but had only 198 tickets to distribute."

The plan was to go to his DC office and pick up the two tickets on Monday. We received a second message saying that Congressman Price wanted to make it simpler and we could pick up our tickets on Friday at his Chapel Hill Office. We were also asked which way we would be coming into DC on the 20th so that we would have tickets that would make traveling easier. We ended up with "Blue" standing area tickets since we were staying with friends in Maryland. We thank Congressman Price for his thoughtfulness. Many in the crowd told of the long wait at the various congressional offices, so we were happy we didn't have to do that.

We left Chapel Hill on Monday at 1 AM and drove to Maryland. Traffic started picking up around Stafford, VA, but it was nothing like what it became later in the day and on Tuesday. After resting a little bit, we decided to do a dry run. Our friends lived near the Largo Metro station. Since the Blue Line starts there, it was a prime place to be. People actually drove out to Largo to start there because the Metro people said trains would not stop at stations if there were more people waiting than there was space.

Our dry run took a while as the Metro set its all-time rider record on Monday. Of course they would break it on Tuesday! Moving around with the crowds was an experience, and it was clear that the energy that you felt was widely shared. Our plan for Tuesday was shaped by what we saw on the dry run and knowing the location of our ticket gate in relation to the Metro stop was useful information.

Our host and good friend took us to the Largo station a 6 AM Tuesday morning. Those trying to park were backed up on the roads but we had no problem getting dropped off at the "kiss-and-ride" lane. We moved with the crowd and used the fare cards that we bought on Monday and got right on a waiting and empty car. That was easy!

Unlike other prior Metro experiences, we had a trainman who could be understood and he provided useful information the entire trip. We came above ground at RFK Stadium and the entire grounds were covered with the amazing sight of more buses than we had ever seen. As we neared our stop, the announcement came that the Federal Center station closed because of the crowds and we had to get off at the Capitol South station. It seemed like thousands got off the train and joined thousands more in the station, all trying to get up the stairs. At the top, there were signs directing people where to go. That was useful to us as we just followed the "Blue" signs. It's now a little after 7 AM and the temperature was about 17 degrees. We walked the several blocks to find our "Blue" gate line and it really wasn't a bad walk. When we found the line it already had several offshoots and it appeared that the plan for an orderly wait was breaking down fast. In spite of the confusion, people were very accommodating and seemed to have the patience of Job.

Waiting for the gates to open was a key element of the "experience." The tickets said opening was at 9 AM but people said it had changed to 8 AM. The wait was made easier because people were in a celebratory mood. We sang patriotic songs, TV theme songs, Gospel, Pop and whatever someone started. People talked about their trip and why they were so happy to be eyewitnesses. Some tried to call friends and share the mood with them but the cell service was spotty because of the high demand. The question of the morning was, "Where are you from?" We met people from all over who came by plane, train, bus car,and foot. We met students who had walked from Georgetown as well as the editor of the University of Pittsburgh student paper. She was impressed that we lived in Chapel Hill because she said that The Daily Tar Heel sets the standard for student journalism. We also saw friends by happenstance and even a celebrity. Coach Dungy, formerly of the Colts, was really good about letting people take his picture.

A little before 10 AM we were almost at the Blue Gate. The sun was shining and the mood of the crowd was even more energized. People who had working cell phones were getting reports from friends who had gotten through security. The word was that the TSA, yes, the same friendly people from the airports, were doing the screens and they were moving people pretty quickly.

When we got closer it seemed like we were in line with new people because there was a lot of merging going on. In the small world category, a friend who is an Episcopal priest ended up behind us and we chatted some more of the time away. Finally we negotiated the maze to the security machines and walked quickly to an area where we thought we might be able to see the ceremony. Tree limbs blocked the jumbotrons but with my small portable TV (that will be useless next month because it isn't digital) I could see the ceremony pretty well. If you have good eyes, look to the left of the tree limbs and just above the presidential seal and you can see President Obama delivering his speech.

People paid attention and listened to the words being spoken. They sang the National Anthem with gusto. They cheered the introductions. The only downer to me was when they booed President Bush, something I thought was unnecessary. But other than that, the joy of the day seemed to guide everyone's spirit. There were people shedding tears, people with wide grins, and the feelings seemed to make most unaware of how cold it was. This was my fourth inaugural but so unlike the other three.

Why did so many come to DC to be eyewitnesses? Much has already been written trying to answer this question. Pride is often cited for the reason. I also think it was because people wanted to be a part of what they believed would be a new beginning for America and they wanted to celebrated the hope for change that President Obama represents. The millions who came and carved out time from their normal routine did so because they cared. The dream of Martin Luther King that was celebrated on Monday may not have been fully realized, but most probably would say it was closer than it has ever been. Being there was the exclamation point on the hopes and dreams of so many. That's why I'm smiling!

THE TEN TRUTHS OF UNDOING THE HOLIDAY DECORATIONS

2009-01-03T16:58:00.002-05:00

1. Nothing goes back in the storage containers the same way they came out.

2. Each year the decorations take up at least one more container than they did the year before, even if you did not get any more decorations.

3. Nothing goes back in the storage area the same way it came out.

4. There is always one more ornament on the tree, no matter how many times you think you got them all.

5. The containers are heavier going downstairs then they were going up.

6. You will always find that one thing you were looking for when you put up the decorations but was nowhere to be found.

7. In spite of saying you are going to “weed out” some of the ornaments before packing things up, it just never happens.

8. Something will break no matter how careful you think you are being.

9. It’s a good idea to be wearing shoes, especially when you drop that heavy thing on your foot.

10. You’re just not as jolly taking things down as you remember you were putting them up.

GOODBYE 2008, HELLO 2009!

2008-12-30T16:24:00.009-05:00

One of the most often repeated comments in our Christmas cards and letters this year was, “Where did 2008 go?” It did seem to fly bye at a record pace, except towards the end when the those annoying and unhelpful campaign commercials at all levels made me think November 4th would never arrive!

But it was still a fast year, and we even had an extra day because like all presidential election years, it was a leap year. Now we are told that we even have to add an additional second to the year. As The Associated Press reports,

The custodians of time will ring in the New Year by tacking a "leap second" onto the clock Wednesday to account for the minute slowing of the Earth's rotation.
The leap second has been used sporadically at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich
since 1972, an adjustment that has kept Greenwich Mean Time the internationally
agreed time standard.

OK. It was a longer year because of the extra day and extra second, but it still flew by. Maybe the speed is related to all of the things that happened at the local, state and national levels. The elections, the wars and the economic crisis loomed large and it’s a certainty that 2009 will see more of the same. We will have our municipal elections in November and I suspect the "early" campaigning will begin shortly, meaning that we could see a longer than usual campaign season.

It will be interesting in Chapel Hill because for the first time we will have public financing. How this will shape the field or even the outcome is of course unknown, but it’s clear that this is big. In July, the General Assembly passed a bill that allowed Chapel Hill to do a pilot program for public financing in municipal elections. I personally believe this violates our First Amendment rights, even though there is a lot of disagreement on this. I guess we might see more court action on this in 2009.

Another major focus in 2009 will be on UNC --- breaking ground at Carolina North, closing Horace Williams Airport, and efforts to secure a new field somewhere in Orange County. Sometime in the first quarter, the authority for the airport will be appointed. According to the legislation enacted last summer by the North Carolina General Assembly, the panel will have four members each picked by the UNC Board of Trustees and the UNC Health Care system, two by the legislature, three by the county, one by Chapel Hill and one by Carrboro and Hillsborough on a rotating basis.

This process of appointing and then their studying and identifying potential sites will be interesting to say the least, but so will the Board of County Commissioners final selection of a site for the transfer station somewhere in Orange County. All of the growth, development and land use issues, as well as implementing the County’s newly approved Comprehensive Plan means that the plate is full, even before we add an extra second to bring 2008 to an end.

We can only hope that we will pull together to face all of these challenges. I can see no other way to resolve successfully the many issues that confront us in our area, the nation, and the world. Good luck to all of our leaders, elected and to be elected, and to those who work hard for the common good. With decreasing economic resources that will make their tasks even harder, they really do need a lot of help!

I guess in 12 months we can reflect on how that went. Go ahead, scratch off the days right here!

THAT INTERNET! (A WCHL Commentary)

2008-12-16T22:42:00.000-05:00

Do you remember that old saw that says, “a lie is halfway round the world before the truth has got its boot on?” Well in this Internet age, I’m changing it to “Internet falsehoods are all over the World Wide Web before the truth can even boot up and login!”

What brought this home to me recently was that an acquaintance that always has something to say about Chapel Hill being so liberal called me to say that he heard that the University had banned Christmas trees. I asked him where he heard that and he said it was all over the Interned and he had heard a particular commentator on Fox News claim that the university was guilty of political correctness run amuck, fueling much Internet discussion.

I told my caller that the chancellor indicated that displaying Christmas trees was up to the various departments and not a university policy. I also told my caller that his grasp of this issue was another perfect example of how stuff gets manipulated on the Internet, and talk radio to satisfy their agenda. Accuracy and truth don’t count for much.

Then I asked him if he knew that two UNC students had just won Rhodes Scholarships, or that our Women’s Soccer Team had just won the NCAA Championship and our men’s team was in the playoffs for the national championship. Of course he hadn’t heard these things. Why is that? I guess the real truths just don’t get around much anymore.

GIVING - THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY! (A WCHL Commentary)

2008-11-28T20:50:00.003-05:00

I think that it’s safe to say that the reason so many of us like Thanksgiving is because it gives us an opportunity to get together with family and friends and enjoy good food, good fellowship, and reflect on all that we have to be thankful for. One of the things that I included on my list this year was the tremendous work of our non-profits in Orange County.

Did you know that November was nonprofit awareness month? Our Board of County Commissioners issued a proclamation to call attention to the many ways that they serve us. We should know that we have more than 266 charitable nonprofit organizations providing diverse services to our community and these organizations spend more than $448 million annually serving the people of Orange County.

We also know that in these challenging economic times, things are getting tough for nonprofits. The same economic forces that affect us personally also affect these groups. Folks have fewer disposable dollars to share. The grant-giving organizations all have fewer dollars to share as the market’s decline has also reduced their holdings. As we struggle to get through this bad patch, what can we do?

Those of us who can still share monetary gifts should continue to do so, but those who can’t might consider donating their time to help one of our many organizations. They always appreciate and can use volunteer help, just ask them! And best of all, the time you donate can help our community in a very significant and powerful way!

A SIGNIFICANT GENERATIONAL EVENT

2008-11-22T08:21:00.005-05:00

Today is a significant generational event for me. It still is as fresh in my mind as the day it happened back in 1963. Many of my friends and I thought August 28, 1963 was a really important day we would never forget because of the 250,000 participants at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have A Dream speech.

But November 22d is at the top of my list because it ended the “era of innocence” for me and many of my classmates. I remember clearly that I was in French class at Detroit’s Mumford High School 45 years ago today. French was my last class of the day and as a senior, I really didn’t think that I should have had a class that late. Worse, because I had lived in France and had taken several years of it, I was forced into French 4, a literature course that I extremely disliked.

When the announcement came over the PA system that someone shot President John F. Kennedy in Dallas (we didn’t know he died), there was stunned silence, followed by the sniffling, the sobs, and then the crying. I often wonder why we had the spontaneous reactions that we did. At our various reunions over the years, the conversation invariably gets around to the question, “What class were you in when they made the announcement?” Just knowing what “the announcement” refers to says a lot about how deeply the event is embedded.

The school sent us home that Friday afternoon and some people missed the last two hours of the day. Taking the City bus home (we didn’t have school a yellow school bus!) was an eerie experience; silence all the way, except for the quiet sobbing and sniffling. Everyone knew. Everyone seemed lost in his or her own thoughts. No one ever seemed to be trying to make sense of what happened.

We all watched TV for the next few days — it was Walter Cronkite in our home who brought all of the news. Saturday the remains were at the White House and laid in state at the US Capitol on Sunday. Our new President, Lyndon Johnson, issued Presidential Proclamation 3561, declaring Monday to be a national day of mourning. As one source reported:

In the only public viewing, hundreds of thousands lined up in near-freezing temperatures to view the casket. Over the span of 18 hours, 250,000 people, some waiting for as long as 10 hours in a line that stretched 40 blocks up to 10 persons wide, personally paid their respects as Kennedy's body lay in state. Many of them were weeping when they viewed the bier. Capitol police officers politely reminded mourners to keep moving along in two lines that passed on either side of the casket and exited the building on the west side facing the National Mall.

That Monday was the first state funeral I had ever seen, and I guess the same applied to most folks. All of the pomp, ceremony, and precession had a lasting impact. And who can forget the image of John F. Kennedy, Jr. saluting his father’s casket while standing with his mother, uncle and sister?

I think we went back to school on Tuesday but I really don’t remember. I do remember that we followed the investigation, read all of the reports in the newspaper, discussed things in our classes even though it was off topic, and followed the coverage at home on TV. As the new year and second semester came, we turned our focus to college applications and preparing to graduate, but the shock never wore off.

Some things in our lives changed and there was a sadness that continued to prevail. With the firing of a bullet in Dallas, it was clear that superfluous stuff like a late afternoon French class became small potatoes. Life went on, but it was clear that Camelot died.

CIVILIAN REVIEW (WCHL Commentary)

2008-11-19T13:32:00.001-05:00

In recent weeks, you have heard two commentaries in support of a petition to create a civilian review board for our Chapel Hill police; today you will hear one opposed.

Mr. Barry Freeman said a board is needed because of the way he and his wife were treated by an officer while they were protesting the opening of the Army’s Career Center in December, 2006. I was there and observed a police officer politely ask the couple three times to put down their sign while on private property, or move to the public area where they could protest with their sign. They refused. The officer told them he would have to cuff and arrest them. They still refused and the officer did as he said he would do. I observed the officer exercising extreme care and courtesy. The Freemans, not the officer, displayed improper behavior.

During 2007, out of thousand and thousands of citizen contacts, the Chapel Hill Police Department received 26 citizen complaints and only one complaint was sustained. I fear that a citizen review board here is a solution looking for a problem because we already have several mechanisms. Also, it would take authority away from our chief to hold officers accountable for their actions in a timely and appropriate fashion, and it would make our force less effective. If we don’t think our chief can the job that we have asked him to do, we need to get a new chief.

Our officers have a very tough job, and they typically do it very well. If only all citizens upheld their responsibilities just as well.

2008 ELECTION (WCHL Commentary)

2008-11-07T19:46:00.003-05:00

Did you hear or even participate in the collective sigh of release on early Wednesday morning? People seemed happy that the 2008 election was finally over. After all, many believed that at every level the campaigns appeared to be swimming in the deepest end of the slime pool. We were tired of the charges, the counter charges, the attack ads, the robo-calls, and that so many candidates refused to deal with the issues that really concerned us.

But along with the sigh of relief many experienced feelings of extreme joy, ecstasy and delight over the outcome of the presidential election and the North Carolina governor’s race for what it says about us and America. We also heard some amazingly gracious concession speeches, and we heard many talking about what we as a nation, working together, could do when we pull together, regardless of party, race, sex, and economic condition. Good feelings, good words, and good aspirations, but it isn’t going to be easy!

On our local level, our leaders will face similar challenges during what will certainly be tough economic times ahead. Some of our days ahead could difficult, but it would sure be a waste if we squander any of our needed energy on the trivial and insignificant. I think many people really believe that hope won on Election Day.

President-elect Barak Obama laid it out well:
“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get
there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.”

Let’s all come together right here and beyond to do our part to make it happen!

THORPE SEAT (WCHL Commentary)

2008-10-28T15:50:00.001-05:00

Everyone seems to agree that the Chapel Hill Town Council will not replace Bill Thorpe; rather, they will fill his seat. After the October 15th meeting spilled over into October 16th, the Council approved their process to fill the vacancy. It appears to be a very sound process and the Council has made an excellent effort to get the word out to citizens who might be interested in serving on the Council until December 2009.

Clearly, being interested in serving is critically important, but that’s only part of the equation. To be blunt, the eight serving Council members will have to decide if they want to pick someone to be a seat-holder for 13 months, or whether or not they want to select someone and jump-start a future candidate’s campaign. To be blunt again, it’s important to remember that this is politics, but what needs to be paramount in my opinion is that we need someone who the Council feels that they can work with, and that someone needs to go into this with their eyes wide open.

They must be willing to devote an enormous amount of time and hard work to the critical issues that are on the horizon --- the 2009 budget, the Carolina North project, parking lot 5, and a host of other issues that will emerge from the current economic situation.

These are tough issues and the 9th member has to have the knowledge and skill to add to the discussions and the decision making process, and not just be a seat holder. To do less will be an insult to Bill Thorpe’s memory.

US GEOGRAPHY FOR $2000, ALEX!

2008-09-22T13:37:00.003-05:00

Recently, a friend sent me a link to a US geography puzzle that required you to properly place the states where they belonged and without benefit of their names. He aasumed that I knew the shapes because I had been to every state and lived in 15 of them, so he challenged me to complete the puzzle in under two minutes.

Using the Great Lakes as the fixed landmark I was off to a great start --- but it took longer than two minutes. Of course, it was the fault of my mouse because it slipped a few times. You know the state is properly seated when the abbreviation of the state appears, but sometimes the mouse just didn't make it happen. Well, of course I did the "Type-A" thing and did the puzzle several more times until I could do well under two minutes!

Go to http://mistupid.com/geography/uspuzzle.htm and try for yourself. Don't feel bad it your mouse does you wrong like mine did! And no fair using another map as a guide.

Even though I had studied US geography, as I studied the completed map, I wondered about some of the quirks in the various state borders. So I "Googled" the question and was directed to a new book, How The States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein (Smithsonian Books, 2008). It's a quick read and does a great job explaining all four of each state's borders. It also reminds you of some US history you might have forgotten. For example, did you remember that Oklahoma got its panhandle as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 that modified the Missouri Compromise of 1820 on the issue of slavery in new territories?

I was also interested in the explanation for some of the border quirks with our state of North Carolina. I now understand the southern border with South Carolina and the western border with Tennessee. I now also understand the straight line northern border that originally ran clear across the nation, and why there is some deviation in that straight line, especially in Tennessee and Missouri, and then the new line in Oklahoma New Mexico, and Arizona.

It's just facisinating, even if you aren't willing to ring in on the $2000 US geography question on Jeopardy!

SEPTEMBER 17th

2008-09-16T08:44:00.005-05:00

Did you know that September 17th is a US holiday? Don't feel bad, most don't! On September 17, 1787, all 12 state delegations approved the Constitution and 39 delegates of the 42 present signed it and the Convention formally adjourned.

The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004. Before this law was enacted, the holiday on September 17th was known as "Citizenship Day." In addition to renaming the holiday "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day. Just in case you might have just thought that you missed it, this holiday is not observed by granting time off work for federal employees!

In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. Teachers and schools are free to design Constitution Day programming that best addresses the needs of their students. Federal executive employees observe the day with some sort of edifying lesson, program, or distributed materials about our Constitution.

For me, who as a commissioned officer took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic," understanding these words was an important part of our education. Gaining understanding begins with the Preamble:

We The People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We are fortunate that some governments offices and others have several handy links to resources that can be used to enhance learning:

GPO Access: Constitution Main Page
The Government Printing Office produces the Constitution in several formats, and links to all of them here. This page showcases the Congressional Research Service (CRS) publication The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in its 2002 edition with the 2004 and 2006 supplements. It can be searched or browsed, and each section has a unique URL for building direct links to the section in HTML or PDF format. GPO also has printed the Constitution in the form of Senate or House documents, and these are available on the same page, in plain text and PDF. PDF versions include The U.S. Constitution with the Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution as Amended, with Unratified Amendments & Analytical Index, and The Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, Pocket Edition.
Library of Congress: Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention Broadsides Collection
Part of the Library’s American Memory offerings, this digitized collection holds hundreds of documents relating to the work of the Continental Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. It features an early printing of the Constitution. The Broadsides Collection page also links to supplemental teaching material. The web presentation "To Form a More Perfect Union" includes a section on Creating a Constitution, which links to the documents — including the 1787 committee draft of the Constitution — within the context of the historical narrative. The Broadsides page also links to related curriculum material called Collection Connections.
National Archives: Charters of Freedom: Constitution of the United States
The Archives presents high resolution images of the fading parchment Constitution and Bills of Rights. (The image files are quite large. For technical tips on using them, see the high resolution downloads page.) This site also features material on the history and impact of the Constitution and related documents, and biographies of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
National Public Radio and New York Times: Justice Learning
The Justice Learning web site includes an interactive Constitution Guide. The site is supported by the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands in partnership with the HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/learning/"New York Times Learning Network and NPR’s Justice Talking show.
United States Senate: Reference: The Constitution
This version places each section of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and subsequent amendments alongside brief and simple explanations. The Senate website also has a Constitution Day page.
Yale Avalon Project: The American Constitution: A Documentary Record
The Avalon Project presents HTML versions of early American historical documents arranged under the following headings: Roots of the Constitution; Revolution and Independence; Credentials of the Members of the Federal Convention; The Constitutional Convention; and Ratification and Formation of the Government. In addition to the Constitution, documents include the English Bill of Rights from 1689; original American state constitutions from 1776; variant texts of plans proposed at the Constitutional Convention; and the ratification documents from individual states.

Also, Constitution Day, Inc., a tax deductible, non profit, and non partisan organization maintains a website, http://www.constitutionday.com/

Happy learning, and Happy Constitution Day and Citizenship Day!

KUDOS! (WCHL Commentary)

2008-09-10T21:08:00.001-05:00

WOW! We sure were lucky with the intruder named Hanna, and even more so when you think about her relative named Fran who was very unkind to us that terrible 5th and 6th of September 1996. Fortunately, Hanna did nowhere near the damage, and for that, we should be very thankful.

But Hanna was clearly wasn’t a non-event for everyone.
For our governments, significant time and resources went into planning for the storm. Some folks after the storm called it about much ado about nothing, but sanity dictates that we plan for the worst and hope for the best. After all, predicting the exact track that an unpredictable storm will follow just isn’t possible.

We had a lot of water fall on us and we did experience flooding, fallen trees and power losses. We received great information and I think that we owe a debt of gratitude to WCHL for what they did during the storm. Once again, they proved the value of a community radio station by providing the kind of LOCAL coverage that they did. Not only did they air field reports and updates from their staff, Duke Energy and Town officials on the conditions in the local area Saturday morning, they also had listeners call in and share what they were seeing.

We as a community are truly fortunate to have a resource like WCHL to provide accurate, timely and useful information on what’s happening as a result of these weather events. Kudos to you WCHL and all of the members of the 1360 family; you are a true asset to our community.

MORE TAXES (WCHL Commentary)

2008-08-11T10:17:00.001-05:00

Us baby boomers who remember our 50s TV know the answer to the question, "Say kids, what time is it?" Well, in August 2008, the answer isn’t "It's Howdy Doody Time!" The modern answer is, It’ Tax Bill Time! Even knowing what the increases were really doesn’t prepare you for seeing the numbers in print.

For my house, the new city, school and County rates translated to a 7.76% increase from last year. But when I compare this new bill to our 1995 bill, it comes to a whopping 70% increase. I think we get a lot of value for our tax dollars, but here’s the thing. We have more and more people who will be forced out of our community if we aren’t careful.

Those citizens on fixed incomes, and many still working are not going to be able to keep pace with these increases. We all know that we depend much too much on personal property taxes and that we need more businesses paying commercial taxes. I think we have to reexamine constantly our needs and wants. We have to fix what prevents us from having a more balanced tax base. We also have to take a hard look at how we are using our tax dollars.

If the greatness of our community is placed in jeopardy because more and more citizens can’t afford to continue living here, then we are not the community that we should be. Even Buffalo Bob and Clarabell the clown would understand this threat and they would support the need to fix this. How about you?

BIRD'S NEST at the XXIX OLYMPIAD

2008-08-09T19:28:00.006-05:00

Last night's opening ceremony was nothing short of spectacular in every respect. As we watched, we were reminded of our time in Beijing in the summer of 2006. We were staying at the Crowne Plaza and my wife was attending a management conference at the International Conference Center just down the street. The Crowne Plaza Hotel is a truly beautiful five-star hotel and now is serving as a headquarters hotel for the Olympics!

The added benefit of our hotel was that it was just across from the Olympic Green where the "Bird's Nest" and the Olympic Village were under construction. One afternoon, my wife went out to look at the stadium and decided to take pictures of the construction site. She was quickly spotted by a guard who followed her around while she snapped away. The guard never said a word, but carefully followed her to ensure that she was not going to harm what would become the "pride of China" on 8/8/08.

Here is what it looked like in June of 2006. Note the smog! One day, we could not even see the construction from our window, but then it rained and the smog disappeared. Seems like they are still dealing with the smog.

(Double click on the "Photos by Sylvia" to make them larger.)

For more information on the Bird's Nest, click here.

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT!

2008-08-06T11:43:00.009-05:00

While in DC last weekend, I had some free time on Saturday afternoon so I walked down to the White House to see the happenings. Back in the 60s when we protested at the White House, you did it on the sidewalk that was between the wrought iron fence and the traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue. Now, the street is blocked off and they have erected barriers all over the place.

The topic was WAR and the protesters and counter-protesters were nearly in about the same numbers as the media and police. As their signs indicate, there were many concerns. Irrespective who happens to be living in the building at any moment, the White House is simply a spectacular building. I hope my shots from the front and back are doing it justice. But the fact remains, we have the freedom to protest our government and leaders, and protest those protesting our government and leaders. Is this a great country or what!

(Double click photos to enlarge)

KNOXVILLE (WCHL Commentary)

2008-07-07T13:05:00.003-05:00

The week of June 20th, we took a group of our church youth to Knoxville, TN to participate in a summer urban ministry program. We as a group have participated in other summer programs but this was the first in an urban setting. For a week, we experienced a variety of faith formation, leadership development activities, and hands-on mission work with the homeless and less-fortunate folks in the heart of downtown Knoxville.

We worked in a facility much like our IFC. We assisted in Project Live, doing yard work for the elderly poor. We sorted and bagged food donations at Salvation Army and worked in their warehouse. We spent time at youth center. We helped at a day shelter for the homeless. We worked at their Fresh Air Camp, and we worked at a great community garden project adjacent to a public housing complex. A unique service was to walk up and down the street with a Red Flyer wagon filled with a pot of ice water to help refresh the men women and children on the street. What a week of growth!

Someone asked the obvious question; why couldn’t we do these same things in our community? The camp director provided the answer: it took them a while to structure all of the legal and bureaucratic requirements in order for young people to work at the various sites and projects. Their model works, and I’m sure that with some sound planning and hard work, we could provide our youth with similar experiences right here in our community.

4th of JULY

2008-07-04T09:27:00.001-05:00

This is my favorite picture of mine taken in Philadelphia, PA. I like that our two important images are present, for the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall tell a great American story.

Pardon me for being more than a little upset with those who desire to attach significance to the fact that former Senator Jesse Helms died on the 4th just like patriots Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. To now try to convince me that he respected all people and loved everyone is just too hard for me to accept.

He does not compare to those two patriots and I just wonder where we as a nation and state might have been if he had not fought so vigorously against civil rights and the equality of all people. What he and his supporters were willing to do to win an election is well documented and he, unlike others of the great Southern segregationist, never apologized for his words and deeds.

I prefer to look at my picture and remember how we as a nation got started. Even though we didn't get everything right in the beginning, we're at least moving down the right path.

OUR GRADUATES (WCHL Commentary)

2008-07-01T18:36:00.001-05:00

On Saturday June 14th, our community had a great happening – we graduated almost 750 young men and women from two of our high schools. There were many, many family celebrations after graduation, but we as a community ought to celebrate too. Some discount the notion that it takes a village, but it truly does. Families and friends provided lots of support to these young people as they developed to the point of graduation. The administrators, staff, and faculty worked hard to provide the education that they received, but it’s the people of the village, if you will, who provided critical resources that were necessary to help make this great education possible.

We want our children to receive a solid education from talented and caring professionals and we know that the costs of doing this are rising rapidly. Our budgets are tight and it’s hard to fund everything, but we as a community remain committed to providing resources to help prepare our children for the future. We also know that not every aspect of education is about money, and many in this community devote a lot of time to guiding, supporting, and nurturing. These things will never appear in a budget.

As our graduates now go out and build on the foundation they received in our schools, whether it is additional education or the workplace, we as a community should celebrate their success and the successes to come. Yes, it takes a village, and this one has every right to be proud of this most important product --- those we have helped to educate!

IS THIS RIGHT? (WCHL Commentary)

2008-06-11T11:01:00.003-05:00

You’ve heard the old line, “Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it!” On Monday June 9th I appeared before our Town Council and spoke against public financing of elections. In my statement, I asked our elected leaders to consider the state of the economy and the tax increases at virtually every level. I ended by asking them to show citizens where their priorities are.

My bad! They did show it in a pretty dramatic way. They first passed an ordinance granting council members who serve two terms to continue their health insurance with tax dollars paying 75% of the cost. This is the same as what a 15-year full-time employee receives. They did approve public financing of elections, but we have no clue about how much it will cost. And when they approved the budget, it granted council members a 3% cost of living increase too.

I don’t begrudge them their pay and benefits; they work hard for us, but even our Congress passed the 27th Amendment to the Constitution in 1992 to provide that “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”

Would you believe that this was first submitted in 1789? Maybe one day we will also catch up, because it just appears wrong to increase your own compensation without having an election before it takes effect. The test of the ballot box is one of our great traditions; maybe we should use it in cases like this!

MEMORIAL DAY 2008

2008-05-24T17:04:00.003-05:00

As we begin the unofficial start of summer, please take a moment to pause from your normal activities and honor those brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our nation.

The "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution, passed on Dec 2000, asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

In case you want to see some data, here are the numbers through 2006.

Since that report, we have lost another 997 of our men and women, as of May 23d.

Taking a moment or two to remember is the least that we can do.

PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS (WCHL Commentary)

2008-05-14T13:16:00.005-05:00

Yes, we should vote, but should we subsidize the campaigns of those asking us for our votes?

On Wednesday evening, May 14, our Chapel Hill Town Council will hold a public hearing on a proposal to fund a voter owned elections. The details are here on the Town page. The idea is that candidates who voluntarily participate and qualify can receive a $3000 public grant as a council candidate and a $9000 public grant as a mayoral candidate. The Council proposal recommends allocating funding of $50,000 in the 2008-09 Recommended Budget that’s also being considered.

This is the same budget where our Manager recommends an 11% increase in our taxes. I won’t be to attend Wednesday evening, but if I were, I would raise several questions. Are we fixing a problem that really exists? Is campaign spending corrupting our local electoral process? In our last council election, the number one vote getter spent the least amount of money! If this isn’t one of our most pressing problems, should we raise taxes and fund political candidates, or should we address many other pressing needs like maybe using our dollars to add another firefighter or police officer?

We also should know how this program would keep someone from independently spending unlimited funds in support of, or opposition to a candidate or group of candidates. Our recent experience with opposition spending for the transfer tax ballot item shows the power of such dollars.

Finally, will this program result in more people running for office? I believe that our real problem is not raising funds, but folks having the time to serve and still meet their work, family and other obligations. Our Council should study this before implementing taxpayer-subsidized campaigns in Chapel Hill.

What do you think?

40th REUNION

2008-05-12T13:06:00.002-05:00

My wife and I attended our 40th Class Reunion at Howard University last weekend. A major topic of conversation was the announcement of our new president. The current president, H. Patrick Swygert (1994-2008) was a student when our class was in residence, earning a BA in 1965 and receiving his law degree with us in 1968, so he was a "friend" of many of us.

The debate was familiar - the Trustees ratified the recommendation of the selection committee chaired by Gen. Colin Powell and Richard Parsons, Chair of the Time Warner Board. The new president is Dr. Sidney Ribeau, currently the president of Bowling Green State University. Some were bothered that he had no prior connection with Howard and it would take him a long while to ramp up. Sound familiar? I guess many institutions and organizations have this debate.

The institution has only had two of the 15 former presidents receive degrees there. The current president has been there 13 years and has been president of two other schools. The first graduate president was there only four years and had many problems before leaving.

So back and forth it went, with no resolution on what model worked best. One classmate who is a dean elsewhere observed that after the long tenure of an "insider," an "outsider" has some definite advantages. I tend to agree. Is the reverse true as well?

The other topic of discussion was the absence of three of our more "well known/highly placed" classmates: The Prime Minister of Bermuda, the Mayor of Atlanta, and The Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Could have gotten real interesting!

I guess the 50th will be here before we know it!

HOW CAN YOU EXPLAIN IT?

2008-04-28T18:52:00.003-05:00

The other day, I got one of those emails that end with the "share this with everybody you know" line. As I read this junk sent by a "friend," I could only wonder if he read it before sending it on to me. If he did read red it, I had to wonder if he believed it, or maybe, it was a test to see if I would believe it!

Clearly, this is a downside of the Internet: people can write just about anything they want and send it around the world in nothing flat. There have probably been a score of dissertations done on this issue already that might provide some insight, but I am still left with my question: why do "friends" send you junk that you hope that they can't possibly believe. After all, don't we want to believe that our friends have good sense?

Well, in my recent experience, I dutifully got the cite from Snopes and sent it back to my "friend" with a comment suggesting that he might want to bookmark that cite so he could check out stuff before forwarding it. The message back was even more telling: just because Snopes says it's a hoax doesn't prove that it is one.

With the modern twist to how we on the sidelines can "participate" in politics in a significant way, it's easy to help attack someone with one of these type messages. So natch - Barack Obama really does want to change our National Anthem to the "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" song. Maybe he would also designate Coca-Cola our national beverage while he's at it!

Silly me, it has to be true, it was on the Internet!

FEAR!

2008-04-23T09:42:00.001-05:00

The other day, Jesse DeConto of the CHN posted a comment on the N&O Blog about a happening in Carrboro. It has drawn almost no response I guess for obvious reasons.

I personally reacted to his post because of where the logical conclusion to what he wrote took me. There's a store in U-Mall I no longer frequent because of the guy that picks up my trail when I walk in. I know others who have had the same experience there and in other establishments as well. I don't like what these sort of behaviors say to me and say about us as a community.

Sure, we are all angry about crime in our community and I guess some would argue that there are good reasons for all of the fear. But George Patton put it well: Do not take counsel of your fears. Bad things happen when we do, but some clearly disagree. Here's what Jesse wrote:

Carrboro Police: Citizens define "suspicious"
Monday, April 21, 2008, 7:06:32 PM | Jesse DeConto
Last week, after receiving a warning from her property manager about a recent armed robbery, a University Lake Apartments resident called 911 to report a black male teenager riding his bicycle through the complex. The General Services Corporation, which manages University Lake and the adjacent Royal Park Apartments, is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone guilty of crime in the complexes. Victims have described the robbers as black men, 18 to 20 years old.

Carrboro Police Capt. J.G. Booker encourages citizens to make such calls, even though police often discover the suspect hadn't done anything wrong. Booker said officers can speak to a potential suspect with courtesy and professionalism, so it's better to call them and let them decide whether someone is up to no good.

"It's absolutely what we're looking for," Booker said. "If they see anything that appears to them to be suspicious, they should call. They know that neighborhood and that complex perhaps better than the police do. Without a call like that, the chance of us finding the people who are responsible for these incidents is greatly reduced."

What would you do? Is the sight of a black teenager you don't know in your neighborhood cause for a 911 call?

I asked (tongue-in-cheek) what made a person a suspect or even a potential suspect, riding a bike? The only responder indicated that a person "riding a bike at 5 miles an hour means you are going from point A to point B. Riding a bike at two miles an hour means your casing joints where you can do your crimes."

I called that an ignorant and gross generalization and the responder invited me over: "Come live in my neighborhood Mr Black and you'll see how ignorant and gross this generalization is. FYI: 3 break ins in the last 18 months." Well, I asked, "And during that 18 month period, how many people rode their bikes in you neighborhood, three?"

I think the point was lost on the person, but it is significant that no one to date has responded to Jesse's original question. " What would you do? Is the sight of a black teenager you don't know in your neighborhood cause for a 911 call?"

It's not really about the bike, is it? It's all about who's on the bike, the fear someone might have about the person on the bike, and a commitment to a disturbing kind of thinking: If it walks like a duck, and quacks like duck, it must be...?

Maybe Joe Biden might think the kid on the bike is "articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." I'm still wondering where our fears will take us as a community.

ARE THEY FANS?

2008-04-14T09:39:00.002-05:00

I wanted UNC to win the national basketball championship as much as any Tar Heel fan, but I can live with accepting a great season without a championship. Obviously, some others can’t, and it appears that their inability to do so really drives them off the edge.

You have to have been living under a rock to be unaware of the hateful reaction directed towards Coach Williams for appearing at the championship game with a Kansas “Jayhawk” sticker on his shirt. His doing this brought out not only the hate speech types, but the conspiracy theorist clearly identified who they were.

It appears that wearing the sticker was a sign of disloyalty in their way of thinking. After all, their reasoning went, KU had just beat UNC so how could Coach Williams shift his loyalties like that. For the conspiracy types, they offered that Coach Williams must have told the team to throw the game because he wanted KU to win.

OK, we have never had a shortage of weird and convoluted thinking in sports, but what are these people thinking? I thought that maybe they have never had their hearts invested in different things and therefore they couldn’t understand someone who did. Then I thought that maybe their outlandish allegations on talk radio, the sports blogs and in letters to the editors were part of who they were and how they grieved and sought closure.

Naw, none of the above – these people just don’t understand that this is a game, this is a sport, and someone can love their team without hating all the other teams that they may have been associated with. Roy Williams should be proud of the Kansas team - he is part of who they are, and being proud is not a zero-sum game.

It’s interesting that when UNC beat a Williams coached team in the NCAA playoffs some years ago, Williams was at the UNC's next game cheering on his former institution. Did he tell the KU players to throw the game or hate his former team? Of course not, all he did was to show that he was a good sport.

I hope all of those who have impugned the integrity and character that so wonderfully defines Coach Williams will have some sort of enlightenment experience. Maybe they will somehow figure out what’s really defines a champion and a coach that produces winners.

THE NEXT MADNESS (WCHL Commentary)

2008-04-02T07:17:00.003-05:00

This year’s "March Madness" has sure been exciting – How ‘bout our Heels! And when madness ends next week, it will quickly be replaces with another round of madness, and this one is of the political species. You may remember early on all of the pundits said with their normal insightful certainty that because of our late primary in North Carolina, everything would be over with when May 6th rolled around.

Well, once again they are wrong, at least in the case of the Democratic Party presidential primary. We are now part of the mix and the reminders are everywhere – candidates opening local campaign headquarters, commercials on TV and visits trying to drum up support. As exciting as a presidential campaign might be, we can’t forget that there are other important races.

Depending on where you live and which ballot you vote, you can help select the November candidates for US Senator and House of Representatives; North Carolina governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, auditor, commissioner of insurance, superintendent of public instruction; State Senate District 23, non-partisan judges, the Orange County Board of Education, Orange County Commissioner seats, and you can have your say on the proposed land transfer tax.

With many decisions to make, now's the time to study the issues and learn where the candidates stand. You can register prior to April 11th and even do same day registration and early voting from April 17th to May 3d.

I hope that you will cast a ballot in our May 6th primary. True madness would be not having your say! Care enough to get informed and then go to your polling place and be an informed voter!

WHICH WILL WE FEED?

2008-03-20T09:43:00.006-05:00

There has been plenty of press coverage of Eve Carson and how she made a difference in this world. As the president of the UNC-CH student body, as a scholar, as a volunteer helping numerous causes, as a friend - in every instance folks have portrayed her as truly special person with a big heart.

The cause of her death and all of the specifics are still not known, but we at least have been able to identify two suspects. Sadly, because of the suspects, some in our community see this case in terms of black and white and want to portray it in only those terms.

UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser had some fitting words about this when he spoke at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Banquet in January. In his remarks, he told the audience the Cherokee legend of the “Two Wolves”

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

So, when I read a letter like the one in the 3/19/08 Chapel Hill Herald by a local resident, I have to wonder if he realizes which one he’s feeding:

Our real crime problem

It certainly appears that Eve Carson of the University of North Carolina and Lauren Burk of Auburn University, both white females, were cheerfully murdered by black males.

Will the editorial pages of major news" papers demand that hate crime charges be appended to the indictments? Will the Justice Department nullify the constitutional protections against double jeopardy and order that the Alabama defendant stand trial for civil rights violations if the' first jury returns a verdict of not guilty? Will a Chapel Hill white mob riot and loot black businesses if the Orange County district attorney treats the black-on-white crime as a misdemeanor complaint?

Umm ...maybe not.

The simple fact is that if the United States did not have a black violent crime problem, the United States would not have much of a violent crime problem.

Now, back to our obligatory Black Studies coursework, and another recitation of real or imagined white-on-black offenses that occurred in nineteen-aught-something.

Frank Hurley
Chapel Hill

There’s probably not much point in responding to Mr. Hurley, but I think he best be real careful about that well-fed wolf he he’s got. How about the rest of us?

PATIENCE (WCHL Commentary)

2008-03-12T08:52:00.001-05:00

All our lives we told that patience is a virtue, it makes us better people when we are able to tolerate delay and exercise self-control. We must understand that we can’t always get what we want, when we want it. We learn and typically relearn the folly of our ways after we have jumped to conclusions.

We as a community find ourselves in the midst of an investigation of a tragic murder of a truly outstanding and popular woman who was the Carolina student body president. I want this to be as it is on that TV show – the perp is apprehended before half after the hour, convicted before the top of the hour, and then we get see the cops and the DAs reflect for a minute or so on their success.

Well, real life is not like that TV show. In real life, we have to be patient, and that’s really hard, especially for us TYPE A’s! I’ve been very impressed with the way UNC, the town leadership and our police chief, Brian Curran, have handled the case thus far, but I still want speedy answers. We know that a rush to judgment based on the released photos isn’t right, but it’s hard to await the facts.

Shock, fear, dismay, sadness, revulsion, and anger work against us being patient, in spite of us knowing what’s right. And getting this right is an important thing our community can do to honor the memory of Eve Carson. Hopefully, it will also help the healing process for her loved ones and all who care about this appalling and horrific crime. So we need to draw on our well of virtue, tolerate delay and exercise self-control. Let’s all be patient.

TOWING (WCHL Commentary)

2008-02-19T10:57:00.003-05:00

What do panhandling, the men’s homeless shelter, and Kidzu have in common with the current towing issue? All these issues are related to the vitality of downtown Chapel Hill and the willingness of people to come downtown. Furthermore, each provides significant opportunities to demonstrate where we as a community stand when we have to prioritize competing values.

In the current towing discussion, the Town Council heard from citizens who believed that there is predatory towing. They also heard from those in the towing business who told their version of the story. So how do you balance the interests of the small business owners and not discourage people from coming downtown? No matter how you slice it, some will never be satisfied with whatever compromises our leaders implement, but whatever they decide, they will have to prioritize some value over another.

Some would be happy to require businesses to open their lots at night instead of towing those who purposely or not ignore the private property – no parking signs. Others think people should have to take responsibility for their illegal parking choices and pay for it. Where’s the balance point for you? For me, I oppose predatory towing practices and I oppose people parking wherever the desire. I want a vibrant downtown. I want us to do what’s right for everybody, and that’s the rub; just what is right?. What do you say?

SADLY, IT'S TRUE AGAIN!

2008-02-07T10:16:00.000-05:00

All of the faithful and loyal Carolina fans just knew that we would beat Dook last night. After all, it's just the way things in the world are suppose to be. When Dook comes to "our house," they are just required to have a long, painful and quiet ride those eight miles back up 15-501, reflecting in their loss and secretly wishing that they could have stayed in town to enjoy the celebrations on Franklin Street. Rumor has it that you'll find lots on Dookies on Franklin street anyway, as they have to come to us to party.

The odds-makers had Carolina by 6 points. How were they to know that our shooting would go cold, our defense would be sub-par, and we would make too many turnovers? They knew Lawson would not play, but they had UNC winning anyway. And it should have been as it should have been - we should have won!

Alas, we didn't! But March 8th is coming and we will beat them Dookies on their floor. That's why we play the game!

THAT”S WHY WE PLAY THE GAME

2008-02-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

I don’t know how much money was lost yesterday because of the Super Bowl victory of the Giants over the Patriots, but I suspect that the upset involved a lot of money. Super Bowl XLII (BTW, do people really know their Roman numerals anymore?) was supposed to complete the Patriot’s “perfect season.” The Patriots even trademarked the line and variations on it to ensure they controlled the market for using it.

As a Giants fan, I was happy and had said in the weeks leading up to the game that the stats don’t really mean much more than what they are – stats; that’s why we play the game! If you were to fall for the hype, the Giants should have just sat at home and forfeited. Over and over, the media hype concluded that the so-called “greatest team ever” could not loose this game (another clue about the betting line being what it was!).

But it’s not just football’s Super Bowl and other sporting contests where this is a problem. Political contests are victims of the same kind of thinking. Phrases like “it’s a sure thing,” he or she is a “lock,” “no one can beat him or her,” “not worth the money to try to run,” and "they just isn't able to win" are all part of our political dialogue. Why bother having the election if all this so-called expert data is so accurate?

We have seen this problem already this year in the primaries, and of course, tomorrow’s Super Tuesday falls prey to the same thinking. Studies have shown that these reports in the media really do affect people. Why bother registering or voting, the winner is a foregone conclusion, some may believe. My one vote can’t change the outcome, others may complain.

Yet repeatedly, like last night’s Super Bowl, we are reminder why we play the game. Data is not supreme. We play the game because the underdog can in fact win. Human behavior is not and never has been a done deal. Stuff happens and underdogs do win. All sorts of things might explain why this happens, but it can never happen if we don’t accept this simple position – play the game and see who wins! Don’t let “them” tell us who the winner is! Let the efforts of the competitors answer the question, not the green eyeshade data manipulators!

Play the game!

WHAT REALLY AILS US?

2008-01-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

The other day while waiting for my appointment, the conversation went something like this: “It was great; you should have been there,” she said. “I didn’t know about it,” her friend replied. “I sent you an email,” the answer came back. Friend came back with “I get too much mail so I probably ignored it! You should have called me.” “Well,” her friend retorted, “I hate talking to your machine since you always let your phone calls go to the answer machine.”

And so it goes. Are we ailing from too much information being made available to us? I think a good question is how do we learn about things that are happening that we care about?

The problem is that between emails, radio, TV, blogs, newspapers, information and video feeds on the Internet, discussion groups, poster signs, telephone calls, and word of mouth, I think it’s reasonable to think one can suffer from information overload. Yet and still, there are always people who don’t get the word. Remember the old line: some don’t know, some don’t care, and a small number both know and care!

Since each of us “manage” information differently, a lot of us probably manage to miss stuff that we care about because our process "blocks" stuff that we would really want to know. Fewer people read newspapers. Fewer people watch TV news. More people turn to the Internet, but how do they know what they might have missed until it’s too late?

I wonder how others are dealing with this and what recommendations they have for how to help busy people stay informed. What really ails us, apathy, ignorance, overload or a combination?

A GOOD ACT FOR INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY!

2008-01-06T15:19:00.000-05:00

Last year I wrote a column entitled "Private vs. Public, Where's The Line?" I concluded it by saying, "Let’s hope that our representatives do what’s necessary to ensure that we don’t become victims of technology or the valid need for public documents. Being a victim is not a good thing."

They did! Effective December 1, 2007 our General Assembly passed Session Law 2007-534 (House Bill 454):

AN ACT to protect the identity of individuals by authorizing the taking of a photograph of a person who is cited for a motor vehicle moving violation, who does not produce a valid drivers license upon the request of a law enforcement officer, and where the law enforcement officer has a reasonable suspicion regarding the true identity of the person, and to provide a cause of action for a person whose identifying information is published over objection.

This law adds to North Carolina's existing identity theft protection act by making it a violation of the act for any person to "knowingly broadcast or publish to the public on radio, television, cable television, in a writing of any kind, or on the Internet, the personal information of another with actual knowledge that the person whose personal information is disclosed has previously objected to any such disclosure."

Other details can be seen in the actual law. In my mind, it's very important for us that this law explicitly states that it can be enforced by individuals, rather than limiting the right to bring suit under the law to the state attorney general. Also, the North Carolina law includes a statutory damages provision, which addresses difficulties that individuals seem to experience when trying to show actual damages in cases in the past.

We can thank an individual named Glenn Hagele who lobbied for this specific law to help deal with the situation where an individual's personal information was made available on the Internet as a reprisal for some public statements amde by an individual. Without Glenn's work on the law, there is simply no reason to think it would exist. Also, there is growing organized pressure on to act to solve this problem.

Kudos to the members of the GA who voted for this and helped the law catch up with our technology!

"LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH!"

2007-12-20T10:39:00.000-05:00

During this special season, we are ever mindful of the dream of peace on earth and goodwill to all.

So in whatever tradition you embrace, may the Joy of the season with with you and yours!

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step i take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let ther be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.

'TIS THE SEASON FOR SWEARING (WCHL Commentary)

2007-12-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

If you didn’t know, this is the season for swearing; five last Monday in Chapel Hill, four last Tuesday in Carrboro, and four Thursday at the School Board meeting. That’s a lot of swearing and it was good swearing resulting from voters going to the polls and doing their civic duty. Some might tell you that your one vote doesn’t really matter; I say it does matter. In the Chapel Hill vote, candidate four and number five were separated by only 60 votes.

Yes, voting matters and I wish more of us participated in selecting those who will work untiringly as they lead our municipal governments and school system. Let’s commend all who ran and all of those who have served for their willingness to work hard to us and make the sacrifices that comes with service. As one council member made clear the other night, their families also serve and sacrifice.

Our communities and schools face all sorts of challenges that will determine our future. We citizens need to participate in the process and let our elected officials know our thoughts and concerns before decisions are made and not just complain after the decisions are made.

Given their commitment to us, it’s the least we can do.

1968 - OH, WHAT A YEAR!

2007-11-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

Tom Brokaw's Boom has been getting a lot of attention, so over the holidays, I read the Newsweek article on his portrait of the tumultuous Sixties.

With a focus on 1968, I couldn’t help but to reflect on all of the significant things that happened in my life that year . We got engaged during Christmas vacation of 1967 and scheduled our wedding for June. Returning to school that January as an “engaged man” truly meant that I was different!

Before the wedding, the last semester of being an undergrad was marked with all sorts of challenges. On March 19, 1968, students seized the administration building in a dispute over the right of the campus newspaper to criticize the policies of the university president. The demands soon widened and the University officially closed while the negotiations with Board members were conducted.

This was a first for any university and there was plenty of media attention focused on what would be repeated events on other campuses. Our student body president, Ewart Brown, demonstrated tremendous leadership in holding things together and preventing violence. He is now the Prime Minister of Bermuda.

After five days, we returned to class and just 10 days later, the University closed because of the riots in DC after Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered. When we returned in mid-April, there were serious questions about how we would make up two weeks of school. The solution was to allow students to take the grade they had at the time or take a final if desired. Heck, there was no debate in my mind and I finished college with no end of term exams!

Before the really “big events” of graduation and marriage, we coped with more violence when Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy was shot on June 5th and died on June 6th. We couldn’t help but reflect on how President Kennedy’s assassination in November of our senior year of high school changed our lives, and now another Kennedy was killed as we left college.

On June 7th, I received my commission as a second lieutenant in the Regular Army at 10 AM and my B.S. in Government at 4 PM. Noted professor John Hope Franklin, then of the University of Chicago, was our commencement speaker, and even under the threat of torture, I can’t tell you anything that he said. Years later when I asked him for forgiveness for not remembering his words of wisdom to us graduates, he simply replied with that patented twinkle in his eye, “Yes, you are just one among many!”

After packing up the next morning and driving to Durham where my wife to be lived, we had a series of pre wedding dinners and other social events. Fortunately, our after graduation celebrations still allowed all of my wedding party to show up at the right time in the right place and wearing the prescribed attire. So, on June 10th at 6:30 PM we had our ceremony in Duke Chapel.

My wife’s famous old Durham church – White Rock Baptist – had been torn down to build the Durham Freeway. Her mother was on a committee with the Chaplain of Duke and he indicated that he had seen the wedding announcement in the New York Times and wondered where the ceremony would take place. Their discussion led to him offering up the beautiful Duke Chapel. As no one could remember any African Americans ever being married there, there was plenty of local interest.

Later in June I reported for duty in the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. The first order of business was to go to Fort Benning, GA and learn how to jump out of airplanes. After learning more than I ever wanted to about the July heat and ever-present red clay of Georgia , I received my jump wings and returned to Fort Bragg. I was no longer a “leg,” that not very affectionate term airborne types call those without wings, and my five jumps from an aircraft while in flight made me part of a special fraternity.

My wife started her fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in computer science and when we toasted in 1969, all we could say was 1968 was some year! Now, we look forward in the coming months to celebrating the 40th anniversary of so many things. And believe me, time does in fact dull some of the sharp edges on some of those memories.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2007-11-21T09:23:00.000-05:00

Last year I wrote about being thankful for blessings at home and in our community.(click this link to go back) This year, I am feeling not only thankful for all of our many blessing but also for the togetherness that this special day offers.

We are having the family dinner at our home this year, and not having to put the leaf in the dining room table is a clear indicator that there will be fewer feet under the table. This is not going to be one of those years where we have 10 in the dining room, eight in the living room at card tables, and a table full in the kitchen. Typically, some of the “big people” volunteer to be in the kitchen with the young ones; do other families experience the same escape tactics?

Anyway, we are not only dealing with the loss of some family members who were here last year, but also familly members being in other locations. Wherever they are, we know that they will be at our dinner in spirit as we tell stories about other days and share the many things we are thankful for, including the bounty that we are consuming with gusto.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and enjoy all of the time you can spend together with family!

PANHANDLING

2007-11-16T10:47:00.000-05:00

We talk a lot about it and maybe now that the election is over, we will think through it as a community and decide what we will do about it. Some may remember back in February I was quoted in the Chapel Hill News for a comment I made at the Community Leadership Collaboration meeting about panhandling. I thought then and still believe now that too many people want to call everybody who is seen as "being different" is a panhandler.

What is the "look" of being different? There’s our problem because panhandlers and lots of other folks are different from others but we want to conveniently call all of them a panhandler. All who are homeless are not panhandlers. Not all panhandlers are homeless. Homelessness and public begging are not synonymous issues. That’s a proven fact! We have criminals prowling our downtown streets and we also have those with disabilities, the working poor, the homeless veterans and those who panhandle. Just "being different" drives perceptions way too much in my opinion.

Just a few weeks ago, a piece in the Daily Tar Heel by a courageous student confirmed my theory. Here in part is what he wrote (go here for the entire piece)::

Why I'm a racist and you might be one too
By: James Edward Dillard

There Is A Light And It Never Goes Out

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession to make.

I'm a racist.

Until a couple of nights ago, such a thought had never entered my mind. My white pillowcase doesn't have any eyeholes; I've never burnt a cross or tied a noose.

More than that, I like black people. Not just the ones I know, either. I was excited when my hometown Steelers hired Mike Tomlin as its first black head coach because it meant a step toward equality in Pittsburgh.

And I considered myself enlightened. I'd seen "Crash." I knew about white privilege. I was smart enough to know racists still exist, but surely I wasn't one of them.

So imagine my surprise when I found out I was wrong.

Allow me to explain. On Sunday night, after having dinner at Franklin Street Pizza and Pasta, my buddy Duncan and I were walking back to campus when a black man approached us.

He was bald and wearing a coat. In his left hand was a Styrofoam cup. As he walked passed us, he extended his arm and said, "Wassup man?"

Immediately, without thinking, I stuck my hands into my pockets and shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry sir, I don't have any change," I said.

Problem is he wasn't panhandling. When he made this clear, I begged forgiveness. Fortunately for me, he was kind and accepted my apology. I couldn't have blamed him had he punched me in the face. But that's not the point.

The point is that in my mind "black guy" plus "cup in hand" plus "Franklin Street" equaled "panhandler."

Does this make me a racist? I think it does. At the very least, I'm guilty of racial stereotyping. Such stereotyping seems innocent at first - after all, most panhandlers downtown are black men - but this "harmless" stereotyping can be particularly corrosive.

The only way we will have a chance of solving our panhandling problem on Franklin St., — and yes it’s OUR problem, — is to have an open and honest dialogue about it. As the comments to Mr. Dillard’s piece reveals, just like our community in general, some of our students get it but others don’t. Sure, there are people who are fearful when they are on Franklin St. and we must change that.

I am hopeful that we will soon get it and get on it as well. The “Spare Change for Real Change” program is a great start, but there’s more to do. We have to resolve the shelter location question, as it is a symbol to many of the problem. We as a community have the ability to deal with this problem; let’s get the will.

CHAPEL HILL ELECTION 2007 — IT’S OVER (FINALLY)!

2007-11-14T17:21:00.000-05:00

The Orange County Board of Elections denied Cam Hill’s request for a recount so the Chapel Hill municipal election is officially certified. I really think this was a very interesting election not for what happened but rather for what didn’t happen, and that is having a “real” campaign with candidates debating the various issues that voters might use in making their voting decisions.

Yes, we had plenty of forums and many things were said, but try this as a test: ask a friend what the top five issues were that separated the candidates. I suspect you will get pretty much the same reaction that I have gotten every time that I have asked that question: a blank stare!

Here’s my take on what we had in Chapel Hill. Instead of something that I will call “simple incumbency,” where a candidate runs on his or her record against a field of challengers and the other incumbents for the four seats, we had “SUPER INCUMBENCY.” Super incumbency is when all five of the current holders of the seats are seeking reelection AND they decide to “run together” against all challengers.

It’s a good thing that those who have served want to continue to serve, and I absolutely have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is when the five individuals who occupy the five seats appear to have agreed to a mutually beneficial campaign strategy, one that appears to diminish our ability to have a real debate or even a discussion of the issues. Diversity of opinion is a good thing, and we ought to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.

The fact that Matt Czajkowski did come in fourth says a lot about his ability to get his message out to voters while the five “SUPER INCUMBENTS” seemed to want only to talk about their past service and how they worked so well together in atypical harmony. In affirmation of their strategy, Mayor Kevin Foy sent out pre-election “robocalls” to voters asking them to reelect him (no problem with that, and I voted for him!) AND the other four incumbents.

Someone asked me why this troubled me and I told them it was because I would have preferred that the mayor have remained above the fray. He has to lead the council that the voters put in office. When a non-incumbent wins (as just happened), what’s the message to the victor? The “outsider” knows for sure that the mayor didn’t want him to win, but those few who bothered to vote obviously did. Yes, 2,932 gave the winner their vote and in the context of an election where only 15% of us bothered to vote, 13.74% of the Council vote is important.

Look at the results as certified by the BoE:

CANDIDATE/Votes/%
Matt Czajkowski (4th)/2,932/13.74%
Sally Greene (I, 2nd)/3,917/18.36%
Cam Hill (I, 5)/2,872/13.46%
Will Raymond (7th)/1,409/6.60%
Penny Rich (6th)/2,442/11.44%
Bill Strom (I, 3d)/3,735/17.50%
Jim Ward (I, 1st)/3,929/18.41%
Write-In (multiple)/102/0.48%

Does it mean anything that a candidate can win the fourth seat with under 3,000 votes?

In the mayor’s race, the results were:

Candidate/Votes/%
Kevin C. Foy /4,333/70.17%
Kevin Wolff/1,803/29.20%
Write-In/39/0.63%

What’s interesting is that if we assume that everyone who voted for a council member also voted for mayor, but all who voted for mayor didn’t use all four of their council votes, it might explain some things. According to the BoE’s data, 6,175 voters cast mayoral votes. If all had voted for four council candidates, the number is 24,700. The total council votes were 21,338. The 3,362 “missing votes” suggests that more than a few voters chose to vote for only one, two, or three council candidates. Of course, the assumption is key, as there are probably people who did vote for the Council and not the mayor, but I think the pattern is obvious.

I wish all of the victors well as they work hard serving us during their term of office. I’m also sure that Mayor Foy and the other incumbents will be welcoming and treat Matt Czajkowski as he should be treated, but I wish I didn’t have to wonder about how he would be treated in the first place. I also wish the “SUPER INCUMBENTS” along with the four challengers had shown where and how they differed on policy. In addition, and most importantly, I wish they had spent more time talking about our future and the issues that face us.

What do you think? I’d really like your feedback on this.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

2007-11-11T13:40:00.000-05:00

To all of my fellow veterans, I wish you a heartfelt happy Veterans Day. To those who support our veterans for their service, in spite of how you might come down politically on the issues of state, I say thank you for your support.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, that’s how it all started. In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words:

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11 a.m. An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday - - a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day."

Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

In spite of the 1968 effort to make Veterans Day a Monday holiday, the law was changed back on September 20th, 1975, by President Gerald R. Ford when he signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978.

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. As for a "day off" governments make the decision on when or if workers get a holiday when November 11th falls on the weekend. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management(OPM)generally does the following: when a holiday falls on a non-workday -- Saturday or Sunday -- the federal government is closed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).

Therefore, it is puzzling that so many confuse Veterans Day with Memorial Day. After all, there are only two holidays that celebrate living people — Labor Day and Veterans Day. It’s simple, Memorial Day is to honor those who have died in service to their country. Veteran's Day honors those who served their country and are still living.

To help make the point, "Veterans Day" does not include an apostrophe but does include an "s" at the end of "veterans" because it is not a day that "belongs" to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans.

I hope people take time to honor our Veterans. One good way to do that is to contact your elected representatives and tell them you want quality medical care and other necessary support for our Veterans, and especially those who are now disabled because of their service. Meeting our obligations to our Veterans as a nation gives real meaning to our words of support for our Veterans.

Happy Veterans Day!

SOME INTERESTING DATA FROM THE CENSUS BUREAU:

Veterans Day 2007: Nov. 11

23.7 million
The number of military veterans in the United States in 2006.
(Source: Table 505 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

Female Veterans

1.7 million
The number of female veterans in 2006.
(Source: Table 505 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

16%
Percentage of Gulf War veterans in 2006 who were women.
(Source: Table 506 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

Race and Hispanic Origin

2.4 million
The number of black veterans in 2006. Additionally, 1.1 million veterans are Hispanic; 292,000 are Asian; 169,000 are American Indian or Alaska Native; and 28,000 are Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. (The numbers for blacks, Asians, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders cover only those reporting a single race.) (Source: 2006 American Community Survey.)

When They Served

9.2 million
The number of veterans 65 and older in 2006. At the other end of the age spectrum, 1.9 million were younger than 35.
(Source: Table 506 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

8 million
Number of Vietnam-era veterans in 2006. Thirty-three percent of all living veterans served during this time (1964-1975). In addition, 4.6 million served during the Gulf War (representing service from Aug. 2, 1990, to present); 3.2 million in World War II (1941-1945); 3.1 million in the Korean War (1950-1953); and 6.1 million in peacetime. (Source: Table 506 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

430,000
In 2006, number of living veterans who served during both the Vietnam era and the Gulf War.

Other living veterans in 2006 who served in two or more wars:

350,000 served during both the Korean and Vietnam wars.

78,000 served during three periods: World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

294,000 served in World War II and the Korean War. (Source: 2006 American Community Survey.)
3
The documented number of living World War I veterans who served with U.S. forces as of Oct. 2, 2007. (Source: Department of Veterans Affairs)

Where They Live

6
Number of states with 1 million or more veterans in 2006. These states are California (2.2 million), Florida (1.7 million), Texas (1.7 million), New York (1.1 million), Pennsylvania (1.1 million) and Ohio (1 million). (Source: Table 505 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

Education

25%
Percent of veterans 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree in 2006. (Source: 2006 American Community Survey.)

90%
Percent of veterans 25 and older with a high school diploma or higher in 2006. (Source: 2006 American Community Survey.)

Income and Poverty

$34,437
Annual median income of veterans, in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars. (Source: 2006 American Community Survey.)

5.9%
Percentage of veterans living in poverty, as of 2006. The corresponding rate for nonveterans was 12.3 percent. (Source: 2006 American Community Survey.)

On the Job

11.1 million
Number of veterans 18 to 64 in the labor force in 2006. (Source: 2005 American Community Survey.)

Disabilities

6.1 million
Number of veterans with a disability. More than half this number (3.5 million) were 65 and older. (Source: 2006 American Community Survey.)

Voting

17.4 million
Number of veterans who voted in the 2004 presidential election. Seventy-four percent of veterans cast a ballot, compared with 63 percent of nonveterans. (Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004, at

Business Owners

14.5%
Percentage of owners of firms that responded to the 2002 Survey of Business Owners who were veterans. Respondent veteran business owners totaled 3 million. (Source: Characteristics of Veteran-Owned Businesses: 2002 at )

68%
Percentage of veteran owners of respondent firms who were 55 and older. This compares with 31 percent of all owners of respondent firms. Similarly, in 2002, 55 percent of veteran-owned respondent firms with employees reported that their businesses were established, purchased, or acquired before 1990, compared with 36 percent of all employer respondent firms. (Source: Characteristics of Veteran-Owned Businesses: 2002 and Characteristics of Veteran Business Owners: 2002, at )

7%
Percentage of all respondent veteran owners who were disabled as the result of injury incurred or aggravated during active military service. (Source: Characteristics of Veteran-Owned Businesses: 2002 and Characteristics of Veteran Business Owners: 2002, at )

Benefits

2.7 million
Number of veterans who received compensation for service-connected disabilities as of 2006. Their compensation totaled $26.6 billion.
(Source: Tables 508 and 509 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

Jan. 21, 2007
The date of death of the last World War I veteran receiving compensation or pension from the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Source: Department of Veterans Affairs)

$72.4 billion
Total amount of federal government spending for veterans benefits programs in fiscal year 2006. Of this total, $34.5 billion went to compensation and pensions and $31.3 billion for medical programs. (Source: Table 508 of the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008.)

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT!

2007-10-31T19:26:00.000-05:00

I had to stop and ponder the news that the pioneering Wall Street Chief Executive at Merrill Lynch & Co. "retired," even though it was clear that he was fired. Stan O'Neal will walk away with $161.5 million in restricted stock, options and retirement benefits! He will also get Merrill-paid office space and an assistant for three years. Not bad for a firing, oops, retirement!

As this community of Chapel Hill has a lot of rungs between the top and bottom of our income ladder, I can only imagine what even 10% of that package could do to address some of our more pressing social issues.

If we had that kind of money to spend, it would in fact cause of to say, is this a great country or what!

WHAT MAKES FOR A GREAT WEEKEND?

2007-10-22T17:28:00.000-05:00

Good question to ponder! We flew from RDU to Chicago on a packed plane Friday morning for a weekend visit with our daughter who lives in Rockford. She has been working at the Belvidere Chrysler Assemble Plant as a labor rep for two years, and this was the first time we have been to see her.

From the moment she picked us up until she returned us to O'Hare International this morning, we had a really great time. When we got to her home, her two cats, Jax and Katy, immediately established that they remembered that I don't like cats, so they did what cats do - tried to get me to change my mind. Didn't work, but it was sort of fun to play with them.

We spent Saturday morning at an apple orchard that is very popular in her area. Edwards Apple Orchard is a great family place. They feature picking your own apples and pumpkins and in their barn, they feature a variety of apples for sale, cider, a donut kitchen and a gift shop. For kids, they have a petting farm, pony rides and play area. There was also a maze and tractor ride. The weather was beautiful and it helped to make the time at the orchard really fun.

We also took in a movie - Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?" - which is interesting to see with your unmarried daughter! Lot's of interesting dynamics in the movie that seems to be doing well at the box office thus far. Major downer - Janet Jackson can't act! My wife's theory is that her face has been tightened so much, she can't change expressions. The "star" lost me when they said that she was a college professor!

We had some great meals, watched some football, spent time talking, and just hung out. Sunday afternoon, we got the phone call that we had all been waiting for --- her brother, and our son, made it home to his wife and family for his home leave from Iraq! When we spend a coming weekend with him and his family, we will surely know what makes for TWO GREAT WEEKENDS!

AT THE STATE FAIR

2007-10-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

For my birthday today, my wife took me to the State Fair. I thought it was a good way to help our area because every year that we have gone, it has rained! Well, that didn't happen this year, sorry to say.

Other than not raining, what else was different going during the day was that the place was packed with families and what appeared to be a lot of school trips, given the number of school buses. The place also seemed cleaner and there were many more rides.

All of the food vendors were there as usual, offering unlimited artery clogging delights. We stayed away from the fried stuff mainly because we couldn't find the fried Coke, Twinkies or peanut butter and jelly.

We saw lots of award winning produce and animals. When I saw that Harris Teeter paid $10,000 for a hog and $5,000 for a turkey, I could only hope that was a charitable purchase and not something that they planned to pass on to us!

Even though it was on the warm side, we had a great time watching people lose their money on games of chance and scream while on the rides that are designed to make you lose whatever was in your stomach, fried or otherwise.

We broke down and played the $2 "guess my age" game. The guy thought Sylvia was 56 so he wasn't withing 3 years. She selected an inflatable baseball bat for our grandson. We went to another one who thought I was 54! I selected a stuff animal for our granddaughter. Not a bad guess for this 61 year old guy!

VOTING COMMENTARY (WCHL Oct. 16, 2007)

2007-10-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

VOTE TIME
Do you know the secret? There are signs at almost every intersection that serve as a hint! Yes, we have an election on November 6th. It’s a municipal election this year for the Chapel Hill Town Council, the Carrboro Board of Alderman, and the School Board. We may not be electing our president, governor, US Senators or representatives, but this is an important election – simply because all elections are!

The regular registration period is over but you can still register during Same-Day Registration at the One-Stop No Excuse Absentee Voting Sites that are operational in Hillsborough beginning 18 October and in the downtown Chapel Hill Post Office and the Carrboro Town Hall beginning October 22. Early voting ends at all of the sites on Saturday, November 3rd, at 1pm.

I hope citizens will get informed about the various candidates and where they stand on the important issues. There have been numerous election forums that are now available online for review, and they can provide a lot of information. Get prepared and then vote early or on Election Day on November 6th.

In the 2005 election, our turnout was about 15%. We ought to be troubled that so few citizens participate. If we don’t vote, our voice isn’t heard. Will it be heard when we complain about what the elected bodies chosen by others do or don’t do?

TRAINING COMPLETE!

2007-10-15T22:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight, we completed our training. The focus was on the "advocating" portion of the program. The major pitfall is assuming the role of the parent and trying to solve all of the parent-student-school issues as a mentor. Our discussions and exercises produced some very frank views and people were comfortable enough with each other to not pull any punches.

Clearly, we have an excellent school system but the perception is that all students are not served as well as some others. One person mentioned that sometimes parents of color go to the school and are treated as invisible. Our role as mentor-advocates is to help, and that was a useful discussion because we could see the lines we didn't want to cross.

I've attended lots of training programs but I must say that these hours with Graig Meyer and Lori Clark were some of the most productive and well structured of a lot of former training sessions.

In a couple of weeks we will get to meet our mentees. I do not plan to Blog about it, but later on I might share some of my "lessons learned" and significant experiences.

A TRAINING DAY

2007-10-13T18:51:00.000-05:00

Today (Saturday) was a full training day. We assembled at 8:30 AM at the Lincoln Center Board Room and began the session with an "ice breaker" to get to know the other volunteers. After the exercise, we participated in several role-playing exercises that reinforced some of the key points in successful mentoring.

We got to hear from some students who are being mentored, veteran mentors and parents and all shared their various perspectives on the program. All of them reinforced the point that getting to know each other was key and engaging the mentee in activities that are fun and developmental is critically important.

We also discussed the importance of race, culture, and class in the mentoring of African Americans and Latino students. To give us a feel of where the students participating in the program live, we took a bus tour of those neighborhoods within Chapel Hill and Carrboro. It was interesting that some who also live in the community were unaware of some of the neighborhoods where there is public and "low cost" (for our community!) housing.

We finish our training on Monday!

THE TRAINING BEGINS!

2007-10-11T20:51:00.000-05:00

On April 1, 2007, I wrote this column in the CHH on the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program (BRMA).

Now, rather than being an observer of the program, I began my training program to become a mentor. The twelve hours of training is spread over three days. After we complete the training, we get matched with our mentee.

Based on what we did tonight, learning how to meet this critical community need is going to be fun and challenging. The other mentors who are training with me all seem committed to helping kids reach their full potential and advocate for them. It will great to join the established mentors in helping these young people achieve their goals.

Follow the journey here as I post my observations and impressions of the program!

ELECTION FORUM SCHEDULE

2007-09-19T20:37:00.000-05:00

There are two forums scheduled in October on back-to-back evenings.

The Chapel Hill town candidates forum is Oct. 9 at Hargraves center and the Carrboro candidates forum is Oct. 10 at town hall.

Both are sponsored by the Chamber, EmPOWERment, WCHL and CAN. WCHL will broadcast and have the podcast available for later listening on their site, http://www.wchl1360.com/

NOTHING LIKE NEW YORK CITY!

2007-09-12T14:12:00.000-05:00

Time in NYC is always interesting, to say the least, and even more so when your visit includes the September 11th ceremonies and activities. Just walking about, you experience the sights, sounds and smells that are what makes NYC what it is. And for better or worse, there's just nothing else like it!

On Saturday, there was a street market set up on 7th Avenue from 56th (Carnegie Hall) down to the Sheraton on 50th. There were food booths on all four corners of each block and you could buy all sorts of goods - five T's for $10, IPOD accessories, leather goods, sunglasses, rugs, jewelry, and on and on.

On Sunday we walked up Central Park West and right by the Trump Towers,

I noticed the New York Transit "Going Green" sign at the Columbus Circle station where the work is being done.

Down at the Fulton Market, the street performers are plentiful and one guy (in red tights)literally puts himself in a box - a small box!

In the subway ($2 per ride, 6 rides for $10) the stations have retained the public art of old and much of it has been restored. "Musicians" still perform in the cars and are met with the same NYC indifference. I think I saw two tourist give them some money.

Down in the Times Square area, the purse peddlers are on every corner and there is the occasional Rolex salesman. When it started raining (remember what that is?), the purses got covered and out came the selection of designer umbrellas. Ah, the practice of capitalism and entrepreneurship.

Of course, Times Square has gone Disney, and there are various characters who are in high demand for posing with you - for a fee, but the "Pope" was willing to pose for free! The area is pretty free of panhandlers - instead there are "organized" spare change jars where representatives of the various charities ask for contributions. It was very "low key," as were the others with "wares" to sell.

Only in New York City!

OUR GOOD OL' DMV

2007-07-26T14:35:00.000-05:00

This morning was one of those interesting times when I got to do something that doesn’t roll around very often – I went to register our vehicles AND bring my blue lettered and numbered plates back to the DMV. Yes, my 1994-issued plates had been recalled. Recalled! Why? Because the DMV folks made a decision to make the letters and numbers red.

In case you missed it, here is what the DMV put out:

NORTH CAROLINA’S LICENSE PLATES GETTING A MAKEOVER;

DMV REPLACING OLDER PLATES THIS SPRING

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s vehicle license plates will soon be getting a makeover by the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles. In April, DMV will begin replacing existing plates with an updated version. The oldest plates will be replaced first.

“Removing old plates from our roads will increase the safety and security of our drivers and
provide law enforcement agencies with an updated identification tool,” Commissioner of Motor Vehicles George Tatum said.

Tatum said that many of the 8.4 million vehicles operating in North Carolina carry license plates that are well over 20 years old. Their legibility and reflectivity have deteriorated, making identification difficult for law enforcement officers, he said.

DMV expects to replace more than 600,000 of the oldest plates during the first year of the program, with another 500,000 plates to be replaced in 2008. These plates have been identified by issue dates and sequence numbers. DMV will continue replacing older plates each year afterwards based on available funding. The division received about $1.2 million from the legislature in the 2006 session to begin making the change.

Owners with registrations identified for plate replacement will be notified with their renewal
notices. They will be automatically issued a new plate. Owners renewing registrations through the mail or via the Internet will be mailed a new plate and registration sticker. The cost of vehicle registration will remain the same.

The new standard plates for private automobiles will continue the “First in Flight” design, but will carry red letters and numbers rather than the blue letters and numbers now in use. Owners will be encouraged to take their old plates to license plate agencies for recycling, keeping them out of landfills.

Well, just traveling around, it’s my opinion that it was easier to see the old blue letters and numbers than it is to see the red. I asked others if they had any reaction to the new color and all felt as I do, it’s just harder to see.

It’s worth noting that somebody at the DMV studied marketing because if you don’t want just any old letters and numbers, a few dollars more than the basic fee will get you a “Specialized” ($10) or “Personalized” plates ($30). In the specialized category, there are over 120 options, with military, collegiate, civic clubs, special interests, and stock car racing themes. And for the creative types, most of the specialized plates can also be personalized.

The personalized plates can have eight characters and some special characters may count as more or less than one character. Of course, the DMV won’t approve naughty words or other combinations that they deem unacceptable. On their web site, you can “test drive” your creativity to see if it’s available, then they will inform you if it's acceptable.

https://edmv-sp.dot.state.nc.us/sp/PersonalizePlate?serviceType=EXP

Well, after all these years knowing by heart the letters and numbers of our two plates , I will try to learn the new ones before they get recalled!

OBSERVATIONS FROM EUROPE (2007)

2007-07-25T12:06:00.001-05:00

This summer we spent a couple of weeks in Europe and rather than a travel log, I want to mention a few things that struck me about some of the cities that we visited. To get off on the wrong foot, my clothes (in a suitcase) got to visit cities that I didn’t even get to visit, but after seven days, we were reunited. Of course, buying clothes was a hassle and our airline says that they only will reimburse 50% - that is yet to be seen!

The fist city was BERLIN. I have not been there since the wall came down, so flying into their airport was a first time experience. The last visit was on an Army train in total darkness. The first thing you notice is how clean the city is. Their tube and buses was easy to use and like other cities, they operated on the honor system. We never saw one inspector.

I particularly enjoyed our visit to their Holocaust memorial in tribute to Jewish victims. I was particularly impressed with the honest expression of sorrow. As you stroll through the blocks of various heights, the emotional reaction is amazing.

Another popular site is Checkpoint Charlie. There is a museum but there is also a series of outdoor panels that tell much of the post-WWII history involving a divided Berlin.

The Wall is on display all over the place. Pieces are part of postcards and other souvenirs so you have to wonder about authenticity. We took lots of pictures of various slabs and all were highly decorated with "art" on the side that faced the US Zone. There is graffiti everywhere in Berlin and the city is trying to remove it - good luck!

As Lutherans, we wanted to take the opportunity to visit Lutherstadt Wittenberg for the first time and see where Martin Luther lived and nailed the 95 Theses on the door of Schlosskirche in 1546 on All Saints’ eve. The door is now bronze, but the panels tell the story.

We left Berlin on the train. Not only was their central station amazing, but the train was on time, clean, and a real pleasure to be on. Here is how they keep their stations so clean – people seem to be willing to take the time to keep it clean and recycle what they can.

And as I said, the trains were all top shelf.. Here we are arriving in Antwerp. We also went over to Brussels, Delft, The Hague, and Rotterdam, then ended up in Amsterdam for a conference. One train was seven minutes late! Note on the picture the commitment to those with disabilities and those traveling with bikes.

AMSTERDAM was nowhere as clean as Berlin, by a huge margin. There were also more bikes in Amsterdam. We were told that the bike is primary transportation for 28% of the population. I saw one mom with a baby on her back, one child on the front and the third on the back. Talk about family transportation! They also provide places to store bikes.

The only problem that I had with the bicyclists was that even with the dedicated bike lanes, many also used the streets and the sidewalks and you had to dodge them constantly as you walked. They ride fast and are not concerned about pedestrians it seemed to me. Even the guidebook warned you to be on your guard!

Visiting a working windmill village of Zaandam was also a treat. Watching the miller turn the sails to get the windmill do what he wanted was impressive.

It was also clear that marketing to the tourist is worth the effort, even if Americans were taking a beating with the dollar at $1.37 against the Euro. That didn’t seem to stop all of the Americans I saw buying stuff.

Amsterdam is truly a “liberal” city and there were many, many, young folks taking advantage of what the city had to offer. In addition to café’s able to sell MJ, there were also these “ladies” sitting in these picture windows that had big red lights over them. The Bulldog seemed to be a popular café with locations various places.

As for the ladies, none seemed to want their pictures taken. From the picture below, you get an idea of what the red light district looked like.

When it was time to go home, we had to fly from Amsterdam to London, then change planes to get to RFK. Unfortunately, it was the day after the car bombs in England, so things didn’t work out for us very well, but that’s a story for another time.

SOME DRIVERS (WCHL Commentary)

2007-06-04T08:03:00.000-05:00

I wonder about what it will really take for some of our local drivers to stop being selfish and care about the hazards that they create. True, some still run the red lights with impunity, but you should see the Seawell School Speedway in the early morning. Doing 60 or more on that road is insane, as the recent accident near the train track proves.

We also have drivers who must not remember much from the last time they studied for the DMV test. They drive in the rain without their lights on, and they don’t seem to understand the difference between solid and dotted yellow lines. Just watch what happens when the traffic going east on Estes backs up at the Franklin St. intersection and how people speed into the left turn lane starting back at Library Drive.

It would also be nice if some of our drivers remembered that when they do make that left turn, they are suppose to stay in the left lane. And how about visualizing using the turn signals activated by that stick on the left side of the steering column? It one can visualize using them, then one can easily advance to actually doing it. Not only does it help other drivers know what you intend to do, it also shows that you care about others.

Maybe we should require drivers to take the test every couple of years, but that won’t happen – it costs too much. But what do all of these accidents caused by uncaring drivers cost us?

The CHH Will Continue (For Now)

2007-06-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Editor Bob Ashley (click link) wrote in today’s Durham Herald-Sun that the Chapel Hill Herald will continue as a seven day a week newspaper.

I think that’s good news, but I do have concerns. Mr. Ashley uses the phrase “stay the course.” I hope that the Paxton management does not believe that nothing need to change with how they resource or support the CHH.

Chapel Hill needs more than one paper and I think the dedicated staff at the CHH produces a quality product – with the resources that they receive. Thus, it would be good to see several improvements by the Paxton management – to include delivering the paper with regularity!

RADIO (WCHL Commentary)

2007-05-25T09:06:00.000-05:00

Do you have one of those XM Satellite radios? If you do, you probably were a little perturbed when you experienced an outage earlier this week. Hearing about their satellite being down and then hearing the story on TV about the ominous 2007 hurricane season made me wonder; if the predicted number of named storms and number of hurricane days is anywhere close to accurate, it’s going to be an interesting season!
Remember the ice storm back in December of 2002. Fortunately, WCHL had just returned as a local station and was able to provide 24 hour information and updates for those of us who had working radios. What would have happened if we had to depend on a satellite signal for our local advisories and updates? Sure, if you had a battery operated TV or a generator, you got news and updates from the TV stations, but it was regional. Hearing our mayor and town manager projecting calm and competent leadership as they provided advisories and updates was really reassuring.
Sadly, I think we will face another crisis of that sort in the future and it may come during this hurricane season. Now is the time to get ready by doing what the emergency preparedness folks have suggested. Go to the Orange County webpage and check out their advice. Having a working radio and extra batteries is one of their suggestions. I don’t know about you, but my family and I will most definitely be tuned to WCHL 1360 in order to stay informed. Satellite radio may have the music you want but it sure won’t have the local information that you really need!

RESIGNATION

2007-05-06T17:44:00.000-05:00

April 30, 2007

Dear Editor:

In the first 120 days of 2007, we probably have not received our paper on one-third of those days. Calling the Herald-Sun “customer no-service” line produces even greater frustrations, especially when the voice tells me that they “deliver more news seven days a week.” Of course, if they did deliver it, I wouldn’t be calling. Sometimes after calling, the paper eventually gets to our driveway and sometimes it doesn’t.

With all of the challenges facing the print media these days, you would think a paper’s owners would do all that it could to retain paying customers. I have personally had conversations with the district manager, the circulation manager, and even the publisher about not getting our paper but it continues to happen. I just can’t understand why, as the other paper that we pay to receive has missed delivery only once in the last 120 days and the free paper comes twice a week without fail. Whatever the explanation, deeds, not words, should be the coin of the realm for consumers.

We did not get this Sunday’s paper, again. We called and were told that they would try to deliver it; it never came. It didn’t come Monday morning either, but the “customer no-service” rep said that they would try to get it out to us Tuesday. I assume that my Sunday column was printed but I have no personal confirmation. What’s wrong with this picture?

Thus, in good conscience I can no longer be an unpaid weekly columnist for an organization that seems to care so little about its customers. I have enjoyed my time writing for the Chapel Hill Herald and I especially value all of the feedback from readers. I understand that, as editor, you have no control over the business aspects of the paper, but I hope you understand my decision. I also hope that somehow, the Paxton chain will devoted the necessary resources to improve delivery and its customer service approach before it’s too late. Our community needs a community-focused newspaper, but is this a corporate commitment?

Thanks again for the opportunity to write the weekly Sunday column and I wish you and your fine staff good luck.

Fred Black