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(05/17/07 4:00am)
Monica Holley had reason to be proud on Mother's Day.
Along with family and friends, she'd watched her third son graduate from college.
"I'm proud of all three of my sons," she said. "They came a long way."
Her third, Jesse Holley, is the former North Carolina wide receiver who recently put his Carolina days behind him and signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.
He was surrounded by godparents, brothers, coaches, uncles and aunts who traveled from Roselle, N.J. to pick him out of the crowd in Kenan Stadium.
As they talked and snapped and posed for pictures overlooking the field, the sea of Carolina blue caps and gowns disintegrated into sparse clumps, and folding chairs were stacked to be put away.
"It feels great - all that hard work finally paid off," Holley said, holding his 3-year-old niece Kristy Hayes in his arms.
Students and families such as Holley's gathered all over UNC's campus Sunday after the 9:30 a.m. ceremony that graduated 5,481 undergraduates, masters, doctoral and professional students.
Twenty Army, Air Force and Navy students also received their degrees Saturday.
Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, gave the commencement speech. Her words offered wit and wisdom, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd.
She spoke of the value of self-knowledge, true leadership and the meaning of college beyond the "European kings and dissected frogs" students learn about in class.
She cited the negative effects of globalization, a complex Iraq war, the lack of response to genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, the massacre at Virginia Tech and the loss of former UNC mascot Jason Ray to tragedy as "shadows" of the world.
"It is not my intention this morning to place the weight of the world upon your shoulders - for that will always be your parents' job," she said.
"But I do hope that when you accept your diplomas, you will do so determined to live life boldly with largeness of spirit and generosity of heart."
She recalled Tom Burnett's story on United Airlines Flight 93. Burnett was part of the group who fought back on the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. Burnett's story is inspirational, she said, because of his resolve to take action.
"We keep waiting until we run out of 'untils,' Albright said. "Then it is too late. Our plane has crashed, and we haven't done anything about it."
In addition to Albright's speech, the ceremony included a song from the Clef Hangers, a "Hark the Sound" sing-along and a bevy of speakers, which included Nelson Schwab III, chairman of the Board of Trustees, General Alumni Association Board of Directors Chairman Tom Efird and UNC-system President Erskine Bowles.
Chancellor James Moeser held a moment of silence for the Virginia Tech tragedy, and the University also awarded five honorary degrees to recipients, which included Albright and former men's basketball coach Dean Smith.
"As the class of 2007 well knows, a degree is a precious thing," Albright said. "It is very satisfying to work hard and earn one. It is an utter delight to receive one without having to attend a single class."
Graduate Matt Churinske had mixed feelings about graduation.
"My brain's pretty excited, but emotionally, I'm not too pumped up," he said. "I think it's unreal to me."
While Robin Graham and Roger Horowitz differed in their view on moving on from Chapel Hill - one felt excited and the other "weird" - both went to commencement in style. Horowitz turned his cap into a mouse head, and Graham had a pink feather boa.
It was Erica Hugo's second commencement. She graduated Sunday from the UNC School of Pharmacy.
"I think it was a long journey, but it was well worth it," she said. "I'm excited but also sad to leave Chapel Hill - it's like a second home to me."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(10/26/06 4:00am)
Halloween starts Oct. 1 for senior Matthew Scott Montgomery. And by "start," he means he's finished all his holiday preparations and he's ready to start celebrating.
"I take Halloween very seriously," he said. "I come from a family where holidays are a big deal."
Oct. 31 is a big deal for national and local businesses, too: It's the second-biggest decorating holiday after Christmas, according to the National Retail Federation.
The holiday is experiencing increased participation. The NRF reported that 63.8 percent of consumers will celebrate Halloween this year, topping last year's 52.5 percent.
Montgomery is a self-described "Halloween mess," for whom the holiday is a 31-day affair.
He only listens to Halloween songs for the month of October, he said. He has a playlist of 48 songs on three mixes that meet all of his scary music needs.
He's decorated his room with skeletons, scream masks and blinking bats, and he tries to wear some form of orange and black each day.
"At the very least I have orange and black bracelets for every day," he said.
During Fall Break, he went to the 3-D world premiere of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in Los Angeles, and visited some famed haunted houses as well.
"I watch 'Scream' a few times a week," Montgomery said, commenting on the importance of enhancing his Halloween experience with movies such as "Halloween" and "Hocus Pocus."
Even Montgomery's diet is affected by his devotion to All Hallows Eve.
Standard liquids this month have been Frightening Fruit Punch Hi-C and Candy Corn Soda. "It's so gross but I make myself drink it anyway. The can is so cool. My roommates think I'm nuts."
But not everybody is getting an early start on Halloween.
For a smattering of students hanging around campus on a Tuesday afternoon, Halloween means finding a costume at the last minute or deciding whether or not to go out to Franklin Street to watch the spectacle.
"I haven't started," said Tiffany Rivers, commenting on her costume preparations. The senior has never attended a Halloween on Franklin Street. "I probably won't (dress up). I'm gonna just walk out there and see what they hype is all about."
Sophomore Kevin Garrett said that he has no idea what he'll go as this year. Last year was his first UNC Halloween, and his costume was a last minute decision then, too. He went as a hippie, playing off his already long hair for the costume.
While Garrett's get-up was easy and cheap, many national and local businesses are seeing the upside to the holiday because of increased consumer spending.
According the NRF, consumers are expected to spend $4.96 billion on Halloween merchandise this year, a significant increase from last year's $3.29 billion.
"Halloween has been a growing sales period," said Jeff Lowrance, corporate communications manager for Food Lion LLC.
Seasonal Halloween sales went up 20 percent this year at the Wal-Mart at New Hope Commons, said Eric Deaton, assistant manager at the store.
For many local merchandisers, Halloween has become so popular, that October is just an expected time for a jump in sales.
Gracie Kirchgessner, owner of Dance Design in Rams Plaza, which rents out wigs and costumes, said her store has about 700 outfits for rent each year, but it's too early to say if she'll have an increased number of customers this year.
"In this area I've always found, everybody's always excited about Halloween anyway," she said.
Shopping has become such an integral part of the Halloween tradition that Montgomery has made "shop till you drop - dead" the theme of his costume this year. He'll push around a shopping cart full of bags of bloody clothing.
"Life's too short to be boring," Montgomery said. "So every year I want Halloween to be as interesting for everybody else as it is for me."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(09/26/06 4:00am)
UNC professor Daniel Wallace spends most of his time making stuff up - writing fiction, that is.
His first published piece came out in "Cellar Door." In 1998 he wrote "Big Fish," a story about a young boy and his imaginative father, which was adapted to film in 2003.
But now he's getting back to his roots with "Getting to Know Carrboro - a Step-by-Step Guide," a piece he wrote in July about the ins and outs of the town.
Laurie Paolicelli, executive director of the Chapel Hill Orange County Visitors Bureau, asked Wallace to write the article as a publicity stunt to bring in tourists.
Wallace had written a similar article about Chapel Hill for "Delta-Sky Magazine," the airline's in-flight magazine. Paolicelli thought Wallace's big name and writing ability would bring national attention to the town.
Paolicelli is shopping the 2,700-plus-word article around to similar publications while Wallace is awaiting the summer 2007 publication of his newest novel, "Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician."
"We're in the process of pitching this Carrboro story to national media," Paolicelli said in an e-mail.
"Because of Daniel's name, people are biting."
And while Wallace spends most of his time writing fiction, the article about Carrboro is all fact.
For example, Wallace points out that "opposites exist together in Carrboro."
He writes, "New Age crystal-packing spinach eating sandal wearing peaceniks share the sidewalks with tobacco chewing coverall wearing Sunday go to meeting farmers."
And when these ideas seem a little extreme, he owns up to it.
"I wish I knew if this were true," he writes about Carrboro's foreign policy. "It sounds true."
Using his clever wit and sound knowledge of the town, Wallace covers everything from Carrboro's restaurant scene to its love of arts to its history.
The point Wallace makes about Carrboro's past, as well as its up-and-coming future, is perhaps one of the more important aspects of the piece, he said.
It started as a railroad depot in 1882 and went through a string of names that just highlighted its nearness to its sister city, Chapel Hill.
Wallace's own history with Carrboro goes way back - he first moved to the area in 1982 as a student at UNC, transferring from Emory University in Atlanta.
Wallace grew up in Birmingham, Ala., but he said going into any of his childhood would require a "Special Daniel Wallace Edition" that would take up all of The Daily Tar Heel.
After living in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area on and off for about 20 years, he's been here to watch Carrboro grow and change.
His second house in Carrboro was on Main Street two houses down from the PTA Thrift Shop.
Eventually, he said, it was turned into a business, forcing him to leave. Later when he was looking for a job he got one in that same building, working in his old room as an office.
Wallace said his experience living in Carrboro was key to the writing process for the article.
For him, getting to know the town was like learning a foreign language: You can only really learn from the people who speak it.
"Just from being a part of it, it's the only real way you can learn about it."
And students can learn to speak Carrboro too.
It's a great place for students to live because of the freedom of expression, Wallace said.
"The spirit of Carrboro, even more so than Chapel Hill, is much more open to students."
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(08/28/06 4:00am)
Claire-Elisabeth Hartman, is 5 feet 2 inches tall in everyday life.
But as one of the messenger crows in "As the Crow Flies" - Paperhand Puppet Intervention's seventh annual outdoor performance - she's a black-feathered, 8-foot harbinger of death and rebirth, comparable in size to the old trees behind the Forest Theatre where the play is performed.
And she made her stilts herself.
The performance, tied together by themes of compassion and sacrifice, is a collection of four stories from Iraqi, Asian, English and American folklore.
"Man and Machine" tells the story of John Henry; "King of Fools" is about a village of simpletons, while "Seeing with New Eyes" recounts the story of Gotama Buddha, and "The Librarian of Basra" tells of a young girl trying to save her city's library in a time of war.
The Paperhand puppeteers is a group of friends and colleagues of the show's co-creators, Donovan Zimmerman and Jan Burger.
"I love this show and I love moving," Hartman said.
When she waves her arm, a long, feathery wing sweeps behind her. When she kicks her leg, she's kicking three feet of height she normally doesn't have.
In the performance, she's a herald of change, swooping above John Henry before he starts his epic work with the hammer, and she's there when he dies.
After a costume change - requiring a contraption made from two ladders and a board to accommodate her extra height - she's a towering antagonist for Gotama Buddha on his path to enlightenment.
And when he succeeds, she's a rain cloud, bringing cleansing rain and catharsis.
"It's exhilarating," Hartman said of her role. "It's a lot of work."
Most of the 12 performers, playing all kinds of roles and characters, do quick changes in between the four shows.
They work the shadow puppets, they sprint across stage waving flags and they are the magic behind all of the show's little tricks.
Zimmerman straps a pillow to his stomach to play a portly character in "King of Fools" and also operates one of the feet of the Buddha.
Burger opens the show as John Henry and said he often needs massages to ease the pain of the puppet's bulk resting on his neck.
Zimmerman and Burger - local artists who started their collaboration in 1998 - have been making puppets such as a dragon, an entire village of fools and a giant Buddha since early June, working 60-hour weeks in a blitz of artistic creativity.
"I guess we were both artists, and we were both theater enthusiasts, and we had both been doing art on our own for a while . and there was good results from our collaborating so we kept doing it," he said.
They started making puppets with the Haw River Festival in 1998.
"For me it's a wonderful opportunity to create," Burger said.
Having lived in other towns where he's met some "crazy freaks," Burger said he's had the opportunity to see all kinds of different art, and he wants to bring that here.
But all in all, Zimmerman said he wants the show to inspire people.
"They could walk away creatively or be inspired to be more active socially, inspired to feel and think."
In addition to performing "As The Crow Flies", the group will play host this weekend to the Radicackalacky Puppetry Convergence,, bringing together more than 60 puppeteers from as far away as Canada to celebrate the art.
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(04/27/06 4:00am)
One local nonprofit is fanning out across the community to hear the voices of the Latino population, looking to expand and contract its services to meet the needs of the changing demographic.
The Carrboro-based nonprofit El Centro Latino is conducting a survey of the Latino community to discern which programs are being used, what needs to be cut and what needs to be implemented.
The survey is being conducted in conjunction with UNC professor Mai Nguyen, a professor of city and regional planning at the University.
The survey started in January when the nonprofit evaluated its budget, and has grown from there.
"We found out that there wasn't much we could cut," said Ben Balderas, interim executive director of El Centro, predicting that the group will finish holding discussions, which will guide the next fiscal year, in June.
In a community that is seeing a maturing Latino community, El Centro must be prepared to offer a variety of services.
Balderas said there is still a population of people needing to be introduced to Chapel Hill-Carrboro culture.
"I think the majority of the clientele we serve here is still at a very low economic level," he said.
"When the agency first opened it was very, very basic needs," he added.
The organization is called to provide basic programs, guiding people to housing, employment and social services.
Thus far survey has revealed that transportation is an issue for the Latino community because of the difficulty of obtaining a drivers license.
It has also shown that the community needs more from El Centro.
"It's starting to move more into a looking into going beyond and taking the next step," Balderas said.
He said as members of the Latino community settle here they will need help buying homes, starting businesses and helping their kids as they enter the school system.
Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services, said he sees one of the center's main roles as acting as a liaison.
"One of those things El Centro can do is to help all of us to understand Latinos in the community," he said, inflating the group's role of informing the community on issues of immigration legislation.
"They're taking things and looking at things that are different from what we're looking at."
Balderas said he has been talking with the Chapel Hill Town Council and other community members about becoming a center of education for Chapel Hill and Carrboro, enabling them to speak for the Latino community on expansive issues.
"It's something that we have been doing but it's something that we've been looking to improve upon."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/25/06 4:00am)
Ed Sechrest, a four-year city schools board member, has announced his resignation and is planning to leave when the board finishes the budget in late summer.
"I don't think the board will be affected by my departure," Sechrest said, noting his confidence in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen's leadership. "Everybody's got the kids' best interests at heart," he added.
He said his departure is set for Aug. 1.
"I have enjoyed very much working with Ed . he's been very supportive," said Lisa Stuckey, chairwoman of the board.
Sechrest, whose term would have expired in 2007, said he is leaving because his wife is assuming a position at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He added that he also is getting a promotion from his employer, Lockheed Martin, an aeronautics company.
"He has served our community very well," said Stephanie Knott, assistant to the superintendent for community relations.
"Under the circumstances, (board members) are very understanding and wish his family well as they pursue their new ventures."
Knott said that she had planned to meet with Pedersen on Monday afternoon to discuss procedure for replacing Sechrest, and leaders already have been contacted by an interested applicant.
Stuckey said the board's previous procedure included accepting applications, distributing questionnaires and then holding a public candidates' forum.
"We have a procedure that we have followed the last few times we've done this," she said.
Orange County Commissioner Valerie Foushee set the most recent precedent when she left to run in the commissioners race.
Knott said the board should be able to operate in Sechrest's absence.
"They have enough to vote, and their votes count, but it's obviously not desirable," she said.
Sechrest said that experience as a "Navy brat" acclimated him to moving as a child, and that he is expecting the move to have more of an effect on his middle-school- and high-school-aged children. "It'll be devastating for my girls," he said.
Knott said Sechrest focuses on the practicalities of many of the board's decisions. "I would say that Ed has a very common sense sort of approach," Knott said.
Sechrest outlined his role as a "team player" and said he is proud of the board's work on minority student achievement.
He said he expects he will be involved in the Parent-Teacher Association in California but is not set on being a board member.
"I didn't mean to get involved here," he said, adding that one thing led to another, and before he knew it, he was a board member. "I know better than to say never."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/24/06 4:00am)
Three people were confirmed shot in Chapel Hill on Sunday night during After Chill, the unofficial gathering that follows the annual Apple Chill.
Two people were shot in front of TJ's Campus Tobacco and Beverage and Caribou Coffee Shop on West Franklin Street, and another was found wounded at Elliott Road and East Franklin Street. There were a number of other incidents reported during the celebration.
In front of Caribou, a bullet grazed the head of one victim, who also received a bullet to the chest. The other was shot in the back.
The shooting, which took place about 8:30 p.m., involved an estimated five shots from an unknown number of shooters, Chapel Hill police Chief Gregg Jarvies said.
Jarvies said that the two victims were transported to UNC Hospitals and that there had been no arrests, was no clear suspect information or motive yet.
"We hope to develop some (information about a suspect) once we get done interviewing witnesses," he said.
After the Caribou shooting, about 12 individuals stayed at the crime scene to be interviewed.
Additional gunfire was reported several blocks east, at Battle Lane and Franklin Street, about 45 minutes later.
Jarvies said the gunshot victim found at Elliott Road did not have a life-threatening wound but added that there was no indication whether the wound was related to either incident.
He said that the incidents started coming in between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and that they kept 235 officers from 10 jurisdictions, including Chapel Hill, very busy.
Someone removed a shotgun from a car trunk at the Delta Upsilon fraternity house, at 407 E. Rosemary St., and brandished it but did not fire it.
There were also a number of brawls in the street.
He said that the violence of After Chill might need to be evaluated in the future.
"I think these are issues that need to be looked at after the night's over," he said.
Violence at the tail-end of Apple Chill, which brings large crowds of young people, has seen violence to varying degrees during the last several years.
Though the evening caused trouble, the afternoon featured a mix of families, artists and musicians coming out to the town's largest street fair.
The sultry swing of jazz music drew dancers to the pavement of the Franklin Street post office plaza, who kicked up their heels in the hot sun Sunday.
An estimated 50,000 people crossed and recrossed Franklin Street for Apple Chill, which drew 200 vendors to sell their fares and 1,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to the town's main thoroughfare. Operating from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Apple Chill is a Chapel Hill tradition since 1972, said Sonya Shaw, community celebrations supervisor.
"We heard there would be music so we came," said Laura Windley, a dancing UNC law student.
The swing dancers were not the only people to throw it down at the fair, as six stages simultaneously belted blues, jazz, rock and country music, providing the opportunity for ad hoc dance.
Food vendors flaunted their fare as sausage, funnel cakes, ice cream and cotton candy were considerable attractions for Chill-goers.
"I've been craving butter pecan ice cream for weeks and nobody has it," said Gail Williams, a Salisbury resident waiting in line for Smitty's Homemade Ice Cream, ready to realize her dream.
Potters, painters, weavers and breadmakers sold their wares on the street as well.
In addition to providing an array of tasty treats, Apple Chill gave nonprofits and town groups including Habitat for Humanity and the Chapel Hill Fire Department the opportunity to advertise their services.
One booth with the motto "no needles, no blood, no pain" provided free on-the-spot HIV testing, aiming to normalize testing and make people aware of infection.
"We started doing HIV testing at Apple Chill last year," said Blair Turner, research screener for UNC's AIDS Clinical Trials Unit.
Turner's group hosts information sessions on campuses around the state, giving condom flowers as an effort to spread awareness.
Franklin Street's west end hosted the motorcycle show, an official part of the fair since 2003.
"Motorcycles attract people. Where there's motorcycles there's going to be people," said Anthony "Ahz" Clark, a Greensboro Nu Breed Motorcycle Club member.
But Apple Chill is not all fun and games for some who are frustrated with the town's rerouted traffic, crowds and crime that come with it.
"I had to sit in traffic for like an hour," said Johnny Overton, a Durham resident and UNC graduate, recounting a past experience.
Franklin Street was blocked from Henderson to Graham streets. Columbia Street also closed from Rosemary Street to Cameron Avenue.
Traffic even threw off campus staple the P2P, which was rerouted from its Ridge Road and South Road routes.
Despite the controversy that surrounds it, Philip Sowers, a senior applied science major, lauded the fair for its ability to bring people together.
"You have bike people and 5-year-old kids running around, people from Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill," he said while eating a gooey caramel apple.
"This apple is great," he said.
"I'm definitely going to need a shower after it."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/17/06 4:00am)
It was divine inspiration that carried Durham resident Patricia Branch through a seven-year divorce trial with dignity.
At the end of the divorce and facing debt mounting to almost $160,000, Branch said she continues to call grace into her life, making her case the call-to-arms against injustice for women and families in civil courts.
"She's adapted to a life with a winter thermostat set at 50 degrees by wearing extra layers and thinking of it as a conservation of natural resources," her three children wrote in a winning nomination for The Women's Center of Chapel Hill's annual "Women of Courage" award.
The award honors community women for surmounting major physical, education, or economic obstacles in their lives.
The center will celebrate Branch's award at a ceremony Wednesday.
Branch was one of two to be nominated for and win the award. Simone Lipman, a Chapel Hill resident who worked to smuggle children out of Nazi-occupied France, will not be present at the ceremony.
"Basically (the award honors) someone who's shown awesome courage in the face of life's many challenges and has also been an inspiration to others," said Kelli DePuy, volunteer and operations coordinator at the center.
Branch's struggle began with her divorce when she sought financial equity with her husband, with whom she had lived for 32 years.
"He forbade her to have a lawyer and said that he would never pay her alimony," said DePuy, reading from Branch's nomination.
Branch said her moment of grace came at the beginning of the divorce trial when she decided to treat all parties involved with dignity.
"I knew for sure I didn't want to be like women who were left with a lot of resentment," she said.
Branch filed for sanctions against the opposing attorney in March. She said her mission is to "put on notice" attorneys who don't adhere to some of the basic rules of civil procedure and cause the defendant to incur debt and emotional pain.
"There have been clearly some procedural rules broken and irregularities that have to be brought to the attention to the court," Branch said. "It affects other people, real people on the other side who suffer."
Branch said she hopes to write a book or lectures to publicize her work to cleanse civil procedure and inspire women to be positive in divorce.
Through it all, Branch said she has enjoyed her life despite the severity of her situation.
She said she takes pride in her work to improve the lives of women and families in other ways, advocating to allow men in hospital birthing rooms.
"In 1969 through our mother's efforts, our father was the first husband to be allowed in the Evanston General Hospital. The doors stayed open thereafter," her children wrote.
Branch said she is a staunch supporter of the work of The Women's Center and attends its programs.
She will be recognized at 6 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center Also recognized will be the center's Volunteer of the Year Awards and the Barbara Denny award winners.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/10/06 4:00am)
When pillaging Civil War soldiers broke into Hillsborough's Colonial Inn, widow Sarah Stroud threw her children into the attic, pulled off her Freemasons apron and flew it as a flag on the hotel's white-gabled front.
The army honored her allegiance to the secret society and put the stolen items back, weaving Stroud's story into town Civil War homefront lore.
The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough presented Stroud's and other Civil War stories Saturday in the six-hour history extravaganza "Life on the Southern Homefront."
The event marked the war's end in April 1865, the encampment of Southern armies in the town and the alliance's monthly tour.
"It isn't about battles or skirmishes," said Jeffrey Durst, education and interpretation specialist with the alliance. "(It's about) people who suddenly had to find ways to feed and clothe each other."
Under rain-filled clouds blowing dogwood petals across the town, 15 people gathered for two tours and more flocked to a living history show and lecture about the N.C. surrenders.
"War, when you read it in a book - most of it is about the battles and soldiers," said Connie Orcutt of Colorado. "Our background of the Civil War is more general, and this was very specific," she added.
The tour threw participants into the thick of homefront struggles, which were re-enacted at the Burwell School historic site, home to two wealthy families fleeing the war's front lines.
"I'm going to put a bunch of leeches on you," said Clint Johnson, a Winston-Salem Citizens of the Old North State re-enactor. He played the part of Robert Warren, father of the family inhabiting Burwell School during the war.
"All I can do is hope that with the home remedies that we have with the blockade, she will get better" he said, attending to a young girl.
History from the beginning and the end of the war is imbedded in Hillsborough churches, grave sites, bells and bricks.
John Berry and William Graham, N.C. representatives who voted for the state's succession, are buried in the town's cemetery.
The senators' graves are marked by tall gray obelisks that jut above the cemetery rows.
Hillsborough's history also is laced with events that brought the Civil War to a close.
"There were several surrenders that took place across the southeast," Durst said, standing at the Alexander Dixon House where Gen. Wade Hampton camped at the end of the war.
Hampton acted as a liaison between Southern armies and union Gen. William Sherman, who ravaged the southeast countryside in his march from Atlanta to the sea.
The armies left the house to arrange the largest surrender of Confederate troops at Bennett Place in April 1865, Durst said.
He added that the alliance was pleased with Saturday's showing and hopes to continue the program next year.
"(History) shows us how hard it was for people before us and why we're so fortunate," said Ruth Stone, a greeter for the alliance.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/28/06 5:00am)
A local Latino teen group is feeling the calm after the storm, receiving a boost from the University to help rebuild its program.
Pa'lante, a group that offers social and resource opportunities for Latino teens, is now focusing on the production of a radio show.
The nonprofit, which has struggled to find a permanent location and has completely revamped its program, received a grant of $6,300 from University officials, covering almost half of its $13,000 budget.
UNC faculty members Carol Ford and Lucila Vargas singled out Pa'lante for funding help.
"I just find it very perfect with what I do," said Vargas, a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, who studies the media use of young Latinos, Pa'lante's focus.
Vargas will work with Pa'lante members to research ways to engage the Latino community through media.
"By witnessing how the project develops . that informs our own research," she said.
"There are many faculty at the University who would like to use their research to benefit the community," said Lynn Blanchard, director of the Carolina Center for Public Service, which provided the grant in conjunction with Strowd Roses Inc.
With the grant, Vargas has access to a group of young Latinos who are not only consuming media culture but are producing it as well.
And the grant reaffirmed Pa'lante director Laura Wenzel's faith in her work, seeing its value through the eyes of the professors helping to boost her program.
"Am I just spinning my wheels?" Wenzel had asked before Pa'lante received the grant. Most of the group's members are immigrants from Central and South America, and Wenzel said she had begun to wonder if she was working without support from the community.
Pa'lante bowed out of its former location at the Inter-faith Council for Social Service's offices in Carrboro in January because the group lacked funds. It works instead out of community rooms in the IFC, restaurants and Wenzel's home.
Under its former organization, Pa'lante published a quarterly newsletter, but when it moved, the nonprofit decided to focus on a radio show that will operate on Carrboro's WCOM 103.5-FM. It is set to air June 1.
Daniel Galeana, a junior at Chapel Hill High School and a Pa'lante member, said he is excited about the radio show.
Galeana, who is with other Pa'lante members on a Spring Break trip at Lake Michael, said he hopes the show will help the group "get to know the Latino race."
Wenzel said she has looked at radio programs produced by larger groups as models.
She is seeking an umbrella organization for Pa'lante.
"We're not looking to be renters," she said. "I won't have to be doing accounting, fixing computers - all that."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/27/06 5:00am)
A tall man runs across a field followed closely by a grimacing orange, green and yellow dragon.
A large dragonfly swoops close to the ground, and a platypus plays piano in the wind with his feet.
Is it an air circus? A bird? A plane?
No, it's dozens of kites spiraling, ducking and spinning at Carrboro's annual Kite Fly, held at the Hank Anderson III Community Park on Saturday afternoon.
Hordes of kites flew against the backdrop of dark grey clouds, heavy with coming rains and building winds.
"I got it all the way up, and it feels pretty good, actually," said Mauricio Herrera, a seventh-grader at Grey Culbreth Middle School, who was flying a triangular kite, decorated like a race car.
The event drew a crowd of about 62 flyers, young and old alike, said T.J. Carr, facility activity supervisor. Created by the town's former recreation supervisor Carol Rosemond in 1980, the celebration drew from models of kite flys on the mall in Washington, D.C., and in Maryland.
"I just wanted people to come out and enjoy flying a kite for the afternoon," Rosemond said. "It's kind of an indication that spring is here."
The event gave participation ribbons and certificates for categories including youngest flyer, oldest flyer and scariest kite.
"It was a fidgety kite," said oldest flyer Brenda Huq, 76, who was visiting from England, of her kite.
Harin Panchu of Carrboro struggled to fly his dragon kite, which won the scariest kite award. "We've been having more fun than the kids, I think," he said.
Many parents experienced a rebirth of kite-enthusiasm, flying the kites of their children.
Tim Coynesmith, whose 2-year-old son Taran won youngest flier, said he had not flown since he was a kid.
"Up, up in the air" Taran Coynesmith said, watching his self-made kite.
Susan Holder said she is as sophisticated a kite-flier as she was at 11, handing the reins over to her daughter to avoid "hogging."
Holder said the key to flying a kite high and keeping it up is knowing when to let the string out, and when to pump the handle.
The Carrboro Recreation and Parks Department provided kites for those who did not bring their own, said Kim Andrews, Carrboro's recreational supervisor, allowing kids to make and decorate their own.
The Kite Fly is reminiscent of a competition in India called Sankranthi, said Pratibha Sirdeshmukh, who came to the fly with her three sons.
Sirdeshmukh said the fly is a competition popular in southern India, in which kites battle to cut each other's strings until one winning kite is left in the sky. "Everybody, young and old, flies their kites."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/20/06 5:00am)
Got salt? Got cheese? Got a gyro? Hector's does, and this time you can eat it in a sparkling clean new get-up.
"This is not just a new location; this is a new Hector's. Same tzatziki
sauce, though," UNC senior Dani Janklow said Saturday.
A Chapel Hill fixture and late-night friend to University students since its opening in 1969, Hector's reopened down the road at 108 Henderson St. on Thursday night after a brief hiatus.
The town favorite saw a slow trickle of customers during UNC's Spring Break on Saturday evening.
"We haven't really been busy at night," said cook Jos
(03/20/06 5:00am)
It took Wilma Hanton most of Friday to water the bright yellow daffodils and bread-and-butter-colored narcissus to be ready for Saturday, the 28th opening of the annual Chapel Hill-Carrboro Farmers' Markets Inc.
She said she went back and forth between the greenhouse rows all day to keep the flowers fresh.
And at 7 a.m., Hanton was ready for the markets's opening at Carrboro Town Commons.
Hanton, a Hillsborough farmer, was among about 40 vendors selling everything from baskets and scarves to tarts and cheeses until noon.
The market, first opened in 1979, now runs every Saturday until Dec. 23.
"On Saturday we're open all the way until Christmas," said Sheila Neal, market manager.
With the motto "locally grown, nationally known," the market only sells products from vendors who operate in and close to Orange County.
Carrie Burke, a Chapel Hill resident, said that she loves the market and that she was lured back for the second time to buy special oat bars sold by a particular vendor.
"A lot of things aren't in season yet, so there's not as broad a selection," she said, but she added that she came to see what was available.
All farmers at the market must live within 50 miles of Carrboro and must go through an application process to be eligible to sell.
"For many farmers the market is the main way they sell their produce," Neal said.
She added that farmers also sell to nearby restaurants, leaving a small portion for larger grocery stores.
The 50-mile approach personalizes the experience of the market, so that buyers can get what Neal called "a face with your food."
On Saturday, back-and-forth banter between sellers and customers brought the market to life.
Frances Pendergrass - known as "The Bread Lady" - sells her cakes, breads and pies 35 weeks a year. She said she spent the winter creating a new bread.
"You know what redbud blossoms smell like? It tastes just like that," she said, answering an inquiry from a man trying to sniff the fruit in her baked goods.
"I try to use as many local fruits as I can," she said.
Emil Usinger, a kindergartner at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School, said he enjoys the market, especially the food and the playground.
His mother, Deborah Usinger, said the family has come to the market for two years.
The market will start from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. April 12. The Southern Village Farmers' Market, held on Thursdays, will start running from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 4.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/20/06 5:00am)
Peruvian dancers stomped the afternoon away at the Carrboro Century Center on Saturday, waving their brightly-colored costumes to hail the women of the world.
"The message of the event is to celebrate the diversity of our women locally as well as the accomplishments and strength of our women internationally," said Barbara Lagemann, crisis response coordinator at the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, a co-sponsor of the area's first-ever celebration of International Women's Day on Saturday.
Three area nonprofits - El Centro Latino, the rape crisis center and The Women's Center- brought together dancers, speakers, girls scouts, mothers, daughters and brothers to reflect on the women of the community.
Helene Montgomery, director of Interlink Translations in Chapel Hill, gave the opening speech, asking women present to make a promise "to get women to give information to each other . and to build a community where all of us can reach our full potential, women and men."
Montgomery said women of the world are part of an international community, and they should choose dialogue instead of confrontation to voice their concerns.
Other speakers included representatives from sponsoring organizations who talked about the resources they offer to the community.
"People are unaware of the resources they have in their own backyard," said Pam Dunn, Health Check Health Choice coordinator for Orange County, who was at the event to inform women about health issues.
Historically a holiday celebrated on March 8 more in South and Central American countries, the day aims to bring women together in forums to discuss women in the community, said Sara Vidal, a volunteer at the event with El Centro.
"International Women's Day is much more celebrated widely than in the U.S.," Lagemann said. "We're really hoping to reach anyone in the community that's interested in celebrating women internationally."
Vidal said the celebrations in Latin American are organized with a lot of festivities, which was mirrored in Saturday's celebration with tables set up with Play-Doh, crayons and card making spaces for children.
The idea for the event came from a volunteer at El Centro, who was receiving inquiries from El Centro women about what the center was doing for the event.
"In this town there were no events, no festivals held," said Ben Balderas, interim executive director of El Centro. "We wanted to partner up because were not primarily a women's organization," he added.
Lagemann said the event was a test run for future celebrations with planning for next year pending.
If event attendees were not listening to speakers, watching dances or playing Bingo, they could be perusing information tables, also set up to inform participants.
Brittany Reyes, a student at Smith Middle School, said it's important to celebrate women.
"Because we are as good as men are. A little better," she said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(02/28/06 5:00am)
Two of the five pedestrian accidents last month that brought issues of pedestrian safety to the public's attention involved alcohol.
David Galinsky, 71, a professor of psychology at the University, had a blood-alcohol level of .10 percent when he was struck and killed by a car crossing Manning Drive on his way to a basketball game Jan. 25, according to reports from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Two days earlier, Arthur McClean, a 51-year-old Chapel Hill resident, had a blood level of .31 percent when he was killed crossing two lanes of traffic on U.S. 15-501, the reports state.
Chapel Hill Police Department spokeswoman Jane Cousins said that the drivers in both accidents were not at fault and that alcohol was cited as a factor in the death of McClean.
"Alcohol can impair a person's judgment," she said.
Rob Foss, senior research scientist at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center, said pedestrian fatalities are relatively uncommon, but "typical situations" are usually alcohol-related.
And while a blood alcohol level of .10 is not equated with drunkenness and might not induce outward signs of intoxication, Foss said a blood level of .31 would be particularly serious.
"He clearly would be in no condition to judge how fast a car is coming," he said, adding that many cannot reach this BAC level without passing out.
In the aftermath of the accidents, pedestrian safety has been in the limelight of local politics, as the University institutionalized fines for pedestrian jaywalking and town officials called for increased pedestrian safety.
"I think there's broad and deep support (that) is underway that this is a very major issue, and it's only growing," said Chapel Hill Town Council member Jim Ward.
Ward was present at a press conference two weeks ago, along with council member Sally Greene and Galinsky's wife, Maeda, as they petitioned the N.C. Department of Transportation to look at pedestrian safety on local roads and to contribute funds to make safety changes.
Foss said many U.S. towns are not as pedestrian-friendly as European or Canadian towns because of high levels of automobile use.
"(Alcohol use) should be a bit of a non-issue when talking about whether a community is safe to walk," Foss said, adding that fault lies with the driver, the pedestrian and the designers of the intersection in question because many towns do not have the proper infrastructure to handle pedestrian traffic. "Almost nowhere in the U.S. do we have a proper infrastructure."
Randy Young, spokesman for the UNC Department of Public Safety, said the pedestrian safety issue is pervasive and applies to the University as well.
"It's something that necessitates vigilance by the entire campus and town."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/24/06 5:00am)
Local leaders tried to calm the fears of concerned parents Thursday night who were worried about adding a progressive early education facility to city schools.
UNC's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute is developing the First School as a nationwide model for public preschool.
"Preschool opportunities are limited in almost every community," said Sharon Ritchie, senior research scientist and co-director of the project. "This would, we believe . open a significant number of spaces for three- and four-year-olds," she said.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools officials and institute leaders listened as parents expressed their hesitance to the program, which they fear could disrupt the success of Seawell Elementary School.
"This is throwing a big monkey into it," said Janine Sobolewski, a Chapel Hill resident and former teacher who has six children in the school system.
If the plan is approved by the school board in April, the program will be built at Carolina North on a site already approved by University planners.
"I have kids in every single one of these schools," said Sobolewski, who praised Seawell for its ability to create a rich community of students, teachers and parents.
"I could be all over the place, moreso than I already am," she added.
Projected to open in 2009, the First School would help alleviate the need for two new elementary schools in the area, building on the already established success of Seawell, schools officials said.
Under what Superintendent Neil Pedersen called "flight plans" for the program, Seawell Elementary School would be open to grades three through five, while the First School would provide preschool services.
"It really emphasizes continuity for children," Pedersen said. "We thought it was healthy that children start off their educational careers with a diverse group," he added.
Jamezetta Bedford, vice chairwoman of the school board, said the continuum of education that the institute's school would offer is a central part of its design.
Pedersen also lauded the collaboration with UNC as a key point in pursuing development.
"One reason we are interested simply because the University is a wonderful resource for our schools, and often we don't take advantage of that opportunity," Pedersen said.
First School would draw students from Seawell, creating a need for more third- to fifth-grade students at the elementary school.
"We would need about 60 percent more K-5 students," Pedersen said, noting that this also would impact middle-school redistricting.
The school board will meet to discuss the issue at its March 2 work session.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/21/06 5:00am)
The Orange County Board of Education voted to approve redistricting plans Monday night, closing the book on a contested topic that has been raging for months.
The board voted 8-to-1 to allow for the reassignment of Orange County students based on socio-economic status and proximity to assigned schools.
The board struggled to lessen bus route times to less than 60 minutes and to open less-populated schools to greater resources.
"The fact that (the schools are) located all right around a little hub in Hillsborough makes redistricting difficult," said Randy Copeland, chairman of the board.
The board plans to open a new middle school, Gravelly Hill, that will receive redistricted students to lessen the problem of overpopulation at the other two middle schools.
There is debate about the opening date of the school, however, because of further work that needs to be done on the facilities. Vice Chairman Al Hartkopf said the opening date may need to be pushed back to December.
The board also aimed to channel more students into the underpopulated Central Elementary School, which board member Liz Brown said has 78 percent of students on free or reduced-rate lunch.
The location of Gravelly Hill was appropriated by the county commissioners, who made the decision by accounting for the projected growth of the Hillsborough community. The location is far away from some students homes, forming a source of contestation for redistricting.
"The location of Gravelly Hill is difficult, but that is a decision the county commissioners made," Brown said. "I think the commissioners think that will jumpstart their economic plan."
Members of communities north of the N.C. 86 districting line voiced their opposition to the plan at the meeting, stating that the plan was made without proper representation of their district.
"There was such an outcry from the meeting," said Jamie Daniel, a resident of northern Hillsborough and candidate for county commissioner. "The reality of the distance and time is very underestimated," he added.
Daniel also voiced his concern about the procedure of the reassignment, claiming the board withheld information from the public about the reassignment.
"Basically we have to sit in the auditorium and keep our mouths shut and watch while the electing body does what it wants to do," he said.
Despite these claims, reassignment committee member Angela Rockett who lives in the northern Hillsborough, said the decision was fair.
"If you looked at everything that we had to work with, it was fair," she said.
Committee member Carole Andrews voiced similar views.
"I'm sorry that it happened to that section, but I was chosen to be on this committee," she said. "We did the best we could. We weren't looking to target that community at all."
Board members said grandfathering, or disallowing the movement of certain levels of high-schoolers, will be discussed at the next meeting, to be held March 6.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(02/20/06 5:00am)
Since its beginnings in 1974, the Orange County Rape Crisis Center has committed itself to dissolving social myths that could contribute to a rape culture.
"As long as there are people who rape and abuse people sexually, there's work to be done," said Miriam Slifkin, founding mother of the center and a member of the board of advisers, Friday.
And more work is being done.
The center launched the second session of its 63-hour volunteer training process Saturday, laying the groundwork for 20 volunteers to help survivors chart their emotional and psychological recovery.
"Recovery is not an event; it's a process," said Mary Cason, an 11-year volunteer at the center who led Saturday's training.
Saturday's session trained staff to be companions, who accompany survivors to the hospital or through legal proceedings after an incident, and to be community educators, who perform outreach in the community to various groups to increase knowledge of sex crimes.
Volunteers also gain the knowledge necessary to guide victims through medical and legal proceedings after an incident.
The training can be intense, and it took its toll on some of the members after the first session.
"Do what you can to take care of yourselves," development director Cutler Andrews told the trainees.
"It is difficult, and all of y'all are part of a bigger movement."
Focusing on the feelings and needs of survivors during and after an attack, the training threw the group into the psyche of a rape victim and urged the trainees to think about the confusion, hysteria and weakness felt by someone going through the aftermath of such an event.
"It doesn't mean to say that to have empathy that one has had to have experience yourself," said Cason, who added that a large majority of the pain stems from the degree to which the victims believe myths created by society.
Some victims fear that "society is saying to the victim, 'It's your fault,'" Andrews noted.
Looking back at its origins, the center started with dissolving myths about sexual violence.
"Definitely there was more blaming of the victims," said Margaret Barrett, executive director of the center.
Slifkin said that in the Chapel Hill chapter of the National Organization for Women there is a general feeling that rape and sexual violence are not happening in the area.
"The Chapel Hill paper made fun of (gaining awareness attempts)," she said.
Assistant director of the center Krista Park said crisis centers started popping up around the country with the second wave of feminism, marked by consciousness-raising groups that met in homes to discuss social issues of women in the community.
"(The women were) giving themselves permission to talk about the issue," Park said.
But the need for a help center wasn't expressed locally until three elderly women were raped as they came home from grocery shopping.
"Here, three elderly women didn't fit the profile," Slifkin said.
"The myth was that girls were too sexy and the guys . can't help themselves."
After that incident, Slifkin started holding meetings in her home and expanded the service when a local business owner gave her money to open a center.
"It originally started in my living room," Slifkin said.
She was quick to point out, "(The center) couldn't exist without the volunteers."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/16/06 5:00am)
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board of Education will gather at the Friday Center today to gain momentum for the battle against the minority student achievement gap.
Armed with assessments and minority achievement reports, officials say they hope to help achieve widespread academic success.
"The board sets annual priorities for the district, and the biggest priority they set this year was closing the gap," said Stephanie Knott, assistant to the superintendent for community relations.
Minority student achievement, the district's number one priority, is one item on a two-day agenda for the school system's retreat that the board holds every year to discuss and improve upon old policies, programs and educational techniques.
Topics in this year's discussion also will include high school reform and teacher workplace conditions.
But minority achievement has been the key item of deliberation for the school system because of a persistent gap in test scores between white and minority students.
"There has been slow steady progress in terms of closing the gap," Knott said, who added that both white and minority students have shown improvement, causing the gap to persist though improvement is evident.
Edward Sechrest, a school board member, said he is optimistic about the progress that has been made so far.
"I'm very happy with the success we're seeing at the elementary and middle school (levels)," he said.
"But the key point is that . we've got to get the students doing better in the ninth grade," he said.
Sechrest said the gap has decreased significantly in the last 10 years, decreasing from 40 points to 20 points. "We're still making progress," he said.
The administrative staff of each school, district administrators and the school board will attend the meeting, and schools will present their individual areas of success and needed improvement since 2000.
In addition, a report card on the progress of black and Latino students will be presented to inform school officials about the state of minorities within the school system.
According to the report, Chapel Hill High School achieved success in three main areas: effective communication with parents, increased accountability and quality instruction in literacy, math and end-of-course testing.
Also in the report was the fact that the teachers at the school have increased collaboration with English as a Second Language specialists to enhance learning in each of the categories.
East Chapel High School also included increased communication between the school and the outside community as a success in their minority program but noted that it needs to encourage more participation among minority students in higher-level courses.
The school differed in Chapel Hill's report by stating that it had done well in including minorities in its upper-level course staff.
Sechrest said minority student achievement is important to the school system because of its diverse student base, adding that the gap is larger in the state because of the larger minority population.
"I think it's a national problem, but I'll say in North Carolina we have more diverse schools," he said.
"One of the reasons it's important for Chapel Hill City Schools to work is because we're one of the more prestigious school districts, and we can set an example for other people."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(02/13/06 5:00am)
The fine-tuned mechanics of automobile repair are an art that cannot be acquired overnight.
It has to be learned through experience - and when Chapel Hill Tire Co. took on an intern through the career explorer program of Empowerment Inc. last summer, it gave a young student just that.
"He eventually caught on," said Chapel Hill Tire Co. store manager Chris Whitehead, adding that the student was even able to work on cars himself, after watching professionals and picking up their trade.
"You've got some experience in before you do it on your own," he said.
The program, which links high school students with area businesses, is Empowerment executive director Delores Bailey's dreamchild.
Bailey brought the project to life to give students a jumpstart on their futures.
The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership reviewed the program at its meeting Wednesday.
Bailey said Empowerment is hoping to subsidize the program to help it broaden its application in the community.
"They're not many jobs that (area youths) can get without any experience," she said. "They (are) not going to be hired for anything other than a minimum wage job."
In the fourth year of the program, Career Explorers accepts applications from rising juniors, juniors and seniors from the town's high schools. Mama Dip's, Weaver Street Market and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce all have participated in the past.
"The whole point of it is that they get experience working," Bailey said.
The partnership reviewed potential participants at the meeting, said Liz Parham, the group's executive director, who is supportive of the program.
"I think it benefits the businesses that take on the interns (as well as) the interns," she said.
"They would get additional help, for one," she said, adding that a young person would benefit a business with energy and new ideas.
Interns will work full-time during an eight-week period, learning the logistics of a job, helping employers and adding to their r