Down here in the tiny town of Pittsboro, we have the Chatham Market Place, CM, which is in its 2nd year of operation.  WSM helped with their expertise to get CM started and they still cooperate.  While certainly a smaller operation it is a most pleasant and friendly place to shop. Clientele diversity seems to match WSM.

But one place where it really shines is the Hot Bar.  While smaller than WSM and much smaller than Whole Foods, the quality beats both hands down.  The folks at CM can cook.  With breakfast every day, an outstanding brunch on Sundays (omelets and shrimp & grits made to order) with entertainment, very tasty selections for every lunch and diner, hot sandwiches,  and special restaurant style menu on Friday evenings, the cuisine is always really tasty.  One note of warning: it is not necessarily good on the waistline.

If you are passing through you might want to give it a try.

I am a member but have no other connection to CM.

This meeting is a part ofthe town's process for Glen Lennox residents to find out about Neighborhood Conservation Districts and help them decide how and whether to proceed with creating an NCD.

Every year the Town of Chapel Hill gears up for the enormous crowds that come to Franklin Street on Halloween, whether we want them to or not. I've been participating in this ritual on and off since I was an undergrad at UNC (in other words, a long time) and I think it has value for the community. While some individuals will always take it too far, most people are engaging in a healthy type of creative expression that is rare for adults.

I think the Town has done a good job of prohibiting alcohol and trying to control traffic. I also applaud the police department for understanding that this is event is a force of nature that can be controlled (somewhat) but not stopped. I'd like to suggest that we charge admission to the area. I think this would help keep the worst elements out of the mix and help pay for the enormous cost of hosting a Halloween party for revellers from across central North Carolina.

This Monday the County Commissioners are holding what may be the final Public Hearing on the proposed Comprehensive Plan Update. The hearing begins at 7:30 pm and will be held in the downstairs courtroom at the County Courthouse in Hillsborough. At their regular meeting on October 7, the Commissioners are expected to vote whether or not to adopt the Plan.

Submitting written comments in advance of the August 25 Public Hearing and/or presenting your comments on the 25th might be your final chance to provide input on this important subject.

I encourage OP readers to review at least the first two chapters (links below) of the proposed Comprehensive Plan and judge for yourself if the chapters clearly articulate how sustainability can be achieved in Orange County over the next twenty years.

Just got the following announcement from the Town of Chapel Hill:

The Town of Chapel Hill is installing a pilot sharrow project today (Tuesday, Aug. 19) through the week on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Estes Drive to North Street.   

The  sharrow, or shared-use pavement markings, is an experimental road treatment being evaluated as an  accommodation for bicyclists under certain roadway conditions.  A sharrow is a road marking to identify the shared use of a travel lane by bicyclists and passing motorists, indicating the legal and appropriate bicyclist line of travel; it cues motorists to pass bicyclists with sufficient clearance.

Some might revel in their underage drinking exploits, but I suspect UNC-Chapel Hill tennis player Chris Kearney never expected his life to take the detour it looks like it will take.

Now that it is almost a year since we moved 14m miles south of ChapelBoro,  I asked my self (I do talk to myself and I am not rich): "Self, what is it you most miss about living in ChapelBoro?"  And self answered emphatically without hesitation "Why the Carrboro Farmers Market of course!"

I do go on Tuesday's to the Fearington farmers market and on Thursdays to the Pittsboro farmers market. They do not compare. For many years every Saturday at 8:00am from April to October I would head off the best farmers market in the triangle and return with the weeks fresh and tasty bounty. Eating is my second most favorite activity.

I may have to initiate a commute.  I wonder if I could talk my neighbors into starting a Saturday Carrboro Farmers Market car pool.   Hmmm...

Plagiarism avoidance:

1) Conversation with self stolen and paraphrased from Emeril Live

A long time ago, I asked y'all how long you had lived here in Orange County. Almost half (49%) have been here for 5 to 20 years, and another 34% have lived here for more than 20 years. In the paper I recently saw some grumbling that the newer residents of Chapel Hill don't share the values of those of us who lived here in the "halcyon days" of outspoken progressive activism.  I don't think this is necessarily true.

Your humble editor (that's me) is spending time with her family for a week and will not be here to babysit the site regularly until next Wednesday.  This means that anonymous comments will not be approved promptly (if at all) but also that if you write a nice blog entry you have a good chance of it being promoted to the front page.

As we used to say, please play nice.  ;-)

I am pretty amazed at how lax state and local governments are when it comes to the bicycle laws of North Carolina.

Walking down Frankiln Street I saw numerous cyclists running red lights, not using hand signals, passing waiting cars, and riding on the sidewalk. All this was happening in plain view of Chapel Hill Police. There was even on man who was decked out in racing clothes who rode in the middle of the two lanes and cut in front of the car in the right lane and made a right on red without stopping.

If you want to know the laws you can read them here:

http://www.ncdot.org/transit/bicycle/laws/laws_bikelaws.html

Either enforce the laws or get rid of them. I plan on bringing this up with the Carrboro police department.

Orange-Chatham District Attorney James Woodall just announced that he will seek the death penalty against Demario James Atwater in the slaying of former UNC Student Body President Eve Carson.

Can it happen in Orange County?