http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/PrecinctFinder.aspx

BETSY J. WOLFENDEN ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF CAMPAIGN WEBSITE

I'm happy for Chancellor James Moeser that he looks back at his time at Carolina and sees an improvement in Town-Gown relations, as WCHL reported recently. I'll admit that the Chancellor seems to have stopped lobbing bombs at the town, which seemed to be his M.O. when he first arrived almost 8 years ago. He also seems to have developed a trusting friendship with the Mayor of Chapel Hill.

The sit-in at South Building (offices for the UNC administration) which began last Thursday has now entered its tenth day and second weekend. Seven students are currently locked-in for the weekend, under constant police guard, demanding that Chancellor Moeser join the 42 universities nationwide which have adopted the Designated Suppliers Program. The DSP is an improvement on the anti-sweatshop policies which UNC adopted in 1990 after another sit-in, and would guarantee that factories producing UNC logo apparel paid their workers a living wage, and that workers at those factories had some sort of collective organization.

Students are keeping their own blog about the sit-in at http://dsp4unc.wordpress.com, with daily video updates.

Festival Details and Directions:

Come enjoy a Celebration of the Haw River with music, art, puppets, environmental displays and activities. You can go down to Bynum Beach and try some river monitoring and kids can take a short guided canoe ride on the river. Kids can also paint their very own critter cut-out made by Bynum’s own Clyde Jones. A fabulous Old Town canoe will be raffled and there’s a silent art auction that includes works by Clyde Jones. There’s the ‘river of chalk” art project happening on the bridge, and much to learn about the river, Jordan Lake and other environmental issues in our watershed. The great cooks at the Ruritan Club will have tasty food for sale all day.

Proceeds from the Haw River Festival help fund our work throughout the year to protect the Haw River and Jordan Lake. We are requesting a $5 donation for adults and $3 for kids under 14 years old (babies are free).

DIRECTIONS:

The County Commissioners have received the proposed budgets from both school systems. According to the Chapel Hill Herald, the city schools are requesting $61.2 million, a %12.56 increase in last year's budget. The county system is requesting an %8.35 increase to $23.8, which is actually less than they asked for last year.

The county school board recognizes, "the fiscal realities of the day," said school board Chairman Ted Triebel.

"[The budget] is well-researched, fully-debated and it is lean, very lean," he said. "This new fiscal approach, this minimal budget, comes with high expectations and confidence that you, our board of county commissioners, will favorably respond to the citizens of our district and look at this responsible budget to provide the necessary opportunities for our county's youth."

Locally, tickets will be obtainable again at the Moorhead Planetarium and also at the Carrboro town hall. Will I get in line again tomorrow? Probably. I am such a sucker.

http://wral.com/news/local/politics/story/2789782/

Residents of Carrboro and surrounding communities are invited to come to the 13th annual Carrboro Day celebration on May 4.

The theme this year is "Celebrating a Sustainable Community" in recognition of Carrboro's ongoing achievements in this area. The event will be trash free; attendees are encouraged to achieve this goal by throwing away all recyclable materials in the proper containers provided.

This year's activities, which will begin at 1 p.m., will include music at the Town Hall front lawn by seven local and regional performers; poetry readings; a magic show; a special appearance by Mother Goose; and a books and baked goods sale.

Welcome to Chapel Hill President Polk!

The Preservation Society of Chapel Hill will be recreating the 1847 visit of President James K. Polk to Chapel Hill on Saturday, May 3, 2008. The event will be from 10 am to 4 pm at the Horace Williams House at 610 E. Rosemary Street. Costumed reenactors will be preparing for the President’s arrival while Mexican War soldiers drill on the historic lawn of the 1840s Horace Williams House. Children’s games, period music, and demonstrations will also be part of the day’s activities. The event is free and open to the community.

By now I have come to expect dissent from our newest Town Council member Matt Czajkowski. Whether it's defending power companies against the community's conservation efforts or resisting smart urban growth, Matt can be counted on for almost knee-jerk opposition to his colleagues' progressive ideas.

But he has now taken to personally attacking hardworking, knowledgeable, volunteers like George Cianciolo (aka George C here on OP). I served on the Planning Board alongside George, who also spent 6 years on the Chapel Hill Transportation Board, and has also represented us on UNC's Leadership Advisory Council and the regional Special Transit Advisory Committee. George is the kind of guy who probably spends more time in meetings than most people spend watching TV every week - and that's not even counting the research and preparation for doing the community's work.

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, for obvious reasons I guess.

From the web:

Solutions for America Event with President Bill Clinton in Hillsborough!

When

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 1:45 PM - 3:45 PM

Where

Orange County Baseball Field
Corner of N. Hassell St & W. Queen St
Hillsborough, NC 27278

Independent Weekly endorsements for the 2008 primary have just been posted online at http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A256728

They will be in tomorrow's print edition as well. Here's a summary:

• Commissioners, District 2: Leo Allison
• Commissioners, At-large: Bernadette Pelissier
• Orange County Board of Education: Steve Halkiotis, Eddie Eubanks, Tony McKnight
• Transfer Tax: Yes
• District Court Judge: Page Vernon

FYI from from "Letters to the Editor: THE CHAPEL HILL NEWS," Sunday April 20, 2008:

"Do you live, work or own land in Orange County? Are you concerned about whether you and your children can find work here and can afford a home near your job? Do you care if farmland and natural areas are protected? Do you want your county to be a healthy, sustainable place to live?

If so, your voice needs to be heard at the final public information session of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan Update on Wednesday April 23 at 7 p.m. at the Hillsborough Exchange Clubhouse.

Via e-mail:

I drove all over the county this weekend and I'm pretty sure I got a picture of at least one yard sign by every candidate that has one.

By the way, here's some free advice: If you have a limited number of signs and/or volunteers, make sure you get your signs to one of Orange County's three early voting sites!

I believe in the United States. That's my only phrase, because where else in this world will an organized country allow their citizens and non citizens to freely assemble and curse their own (or adopted country) to hell. I don't agree with their awful mentality but I respect and in a strange way admire their dissent. That is what makes us great, that is what sets us apart from China, Cuba and Iran. Because we encocurage our citizenry to be different.

I joined OP because I wanted to be a dissenting voice. Orange County NC is liberal, there is no doubt about that.  But to be shunned and segregated becaused of my beliefs is no different than to be set aside as a second class citizen (By the way, I'm not Anglo-Saxon, this name is a pseudonym)

 I'm upset that I have to live in a county that is so elitist that they feel their voice is the majority in NC. It is not!

I just got a robocall from a group calling itself "Citizens for a better Orange County" that opposes the Transfer Tax. It calls the tax the "Home Tax," which is clearly wrong on two levels. Firstly, the proposed tax is on all land sales, and secondly it is an attempt to falsely personalize this tax for local homeowners. Oh, and it fails to mention an important detail: the tax rate would be 0.4%. That's right: four tenths of a percent. That's one thousand dollars on a $250k hypothetical home. Sounds like too much money? Well, what are the alternatives? If this is defeated, the only two alternatives that have been seriously discussed are a sales tax (the most regressive tax possible) and a property tax increase. A property tax increase would be a home tax. Everything about the robocall was misleading and dishonest.

My roommate and a few other folks I know are among the several UNC students on the second day of their protest against UNC's use of sweatshop labor, having occupied South Building since yesterday and with no intent of leaving until the Chancellor quits brushing them off. Check out the video below, and attend a rally in their support today at 4:30 PM just outside on the south quad. If UNC decides to use their police force to remove this peaceful protest, local friend and prominent civil rights attorney Al McSurely has agreed to serve as their legal representative.

So you’ve got Barack and Hillary all figured out, but what else is on the ballot?

Yes, it’s my periodic profile of the lesser known races on the ballot this May. I will be partisan and leave it to some other writer to profile the Republican Primaries (there are some). And I am skipping over the US President, NC Governor and US Senate races, presuming that you can find some good info on those somewhere else. I am also skipping the Orange School Board and the District 2 Commissioner races because I don't live in either of those districts and have not really followed those races.