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Are there any other municipalities in North Carolina that value and promote the arts like Carrboro does? The Fete de la Musique, more galleries per capita than Chapel Hill, the legendary Cat's Cradle, hosting challenging and inspiring artworks in town facilities, free wireless for the community... these things don't just make Carrboro fun, they are an economic engine for the town by bringing folks to downtown businesses and making Carrboro an attractive place to live for many people.

In fact, just last week I was talking to a friend who owns a longstanding, but often-struggling, business on West Franklin Street. He wonders why Chapel Hill doesn't support the arts like Carrboro does. He is trying promote the local artists through his business and needs help from the community to make it work financially.

Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday May 14, 2005

It is certainly reasonable for parents, community leaders and officials to want to work to curtail underage drinking. But red flags go up when self-styled "vigilante mom" Dale Pratt-Wilson, organizer of the Committee for Drug and Alcohol Free Teens, makes wholesale charges of communitywide complacency and rails against our misguided "norms." That sounds a lot like the culture war rhetoric of Pat Buchanan and the moral values posturing of George W. Bush and company.

Consider the Kinahans, who were recently charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The incident occurred when police, responding to a noise complaint, discovered some teenagers drinking in their back yard during their son's birthday party. Before the party, these parents had talked with their child and his friends about rules and expectations. They stayed home to be available as an adult presence. They greeted guests at the door.

Regular readers of my part-time employer, the Chapel Hill Herald, will surely have noticed its editorialists' unflagging support for UNC's growth plans. In a Wednesday editorial titled "Carolina North is coming closer", they wrote that Carolina North is "getting ready to splash across the front pages." They went on to discuss a "new, revised plan" that they said would be presented to the trustees.

This prompted Vice Chancellor Tony Waldrop to write a letter, appearing in today's paper, correcting the editorial and pointing out that what will be presented is only an update and information on a study of potential airport sites.

The irony for me is that I have written repeatedly urging people not to overstate or over-react to events surrounding the proposed Carolina North. Now the university is doing the same!

The encouraging bit in the Herald editorial was their concluding hope that the university has heard concerns already expressed on Carolina North. Given the paper's often disdainful attitude toward those concerned with the impact of UNC's plans, this could be a very positive development.