In today's Chapel Hill News, Fearrington Village Resident Lola Spritzer wants to have her cake and eat it too. She moved out into the country not because she couldn't afford living in town, but because she "loved the rural-like atmosphere of Chatham County." And yet now she "can't accept" the inconvenience of having to drive 30-minutes to get what she needs.
We moved to this area 10 years ago because we loved the rural-like atmosphere of Chatham County. But growth is inevitable. So it is with a great sense of loss that I accept the upcoming housing developments, the increase in population and the denuded two-lane country road that was once U.S. 15-501.
What I don't accept is the long-distance driving we face week after week. Wal-Mart, if the rumor becomes a fact, would be just down the road. So considering the high cost of fuel and the wear and tear on the car, I'll swallow my reservations, ignore the barbs from my friends and enjoy the convenience
- My View, Chapel Hill News, 7/20/05
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday July 16, 2005
The Raleigh-based Common Sense Foundation has launched a research and advocacy project to increase awareness of the many struggles faced by North Carolina's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community. This fall they will release a comprehensive study on the laws and policies affecting LGBT North Carolinians.
Issues to be addressed include adoption, child custody, marriage, visitation rights, gender identity, crimes against nature laws, employment/ housing/health care discrimination, harassment, hate-crime legislation and HIV/AIDS. For heterosexuals, many of these issues, the first few in particular, are matters that we take for granted.
Many of us are privileged in that we do not have to think about our sexual orientation, just as many do not have to think about their race, religion or gender. But in matters of fundamental rights, there should be no privileged class. Unfortunately, the LBGT community in North Carolina is being discriminated against in nearly all aspects of public and private life.
Today UNC student Jason Baker filed to run for Chapel Hill Town Council. I am very excited to see a serious student candidate, something we haven't had here for a few cycles.
It's actually not much of a jungle - yet. Chapel Hill's field of candidates seems pretty tame, at the moment there are only 4 candidates for 4 seats! I'm sure that will change, but so far all of the competitive action is in Carrboro. Anyway, it's a good year for challengers in Chapel Hill...
I was thinking of writing my own column on the question of the UNC system president's pay and the implications thereof. Perry Deane Young has done such a good job in today's News that I may not have to:
the university system's governors have suggested they may raise the university president's salary to $500,000 in order to attract the best candidate for the job. Never mind that the current president's salary of $300,000 carries with it an extraordinary expense account, a free car and one of the grandest historic houses in Chapel Hill.
Well, boy howdy, I hope you'll agree, it doesn't take a doctorate to figure out how wrong-headed this kind of thinking is. If candidates come here for $500,000, they would just as easily keep on going to the next place for even bigger bucks. Furthermore, if they're in it for the money, we shouldn't want them; we don't need them.
Well, I don't believe Ray Gronberg is gone to Durham never to be heard from in Orange again. Neil Offen did report today that Ray has been reassigned to a Durham County beat. Unfortunately Neil's piece is not available through the on-line edition.
Ray does have a great memory of votes and issues over the years he's covered Orange. If you don't believe that, try having him edit your work on some of those issues! I still have some of the lengthy email exchanges to attest to it.
I'm sure, despite his Parkwood address and Durham beat, he'll be popping up on these pages from time to time to keep us honest.
Good luck, Ray.
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