Voter turnout increases slightly
Potentially due to the highly contested Chapel Hill mayoral race, voter turnout this year slightly increased despite the expected lag that comes after a presidential election.
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Potentially due to the highly contested Chapel Hill mayoral race, voter turnout this year slightly increased despite the expected lag that comes after a presidential election.
A 19-year-old burn patient wore a cap and gown as he walked down the hospital hallway, past his family, high school administrators, doctors and nurses, to receive his high school diploma.Last month, for the first time in the 28-year history of the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, a graduation ceremony was held for burn survivor Ryan Frias.“I had chills running up and down my back. It was wonderful to see the support the hospital had given him,” said Michael Zezech, assistant principal of Central Academy of Technology and Arts, Frias’ high school. “I felt sorrow that he had to be the one to go through this, but if anyone can recover from this and lead a normal life it is him.”Frias’ friends said he was always a determined and passionate person. These qualities were put to the test after a debilitating car accident left the high school senior with impaired vision and the loss of his fingers months before his graduation, said Flicka Bateman, principal of the Hospital School.Frias was involved in a single car crash last December in Union County. He sustained third and fourth degree burns on 80 percent of his body. Frias’ girlfriend, Kristin Urbigkit, was driving and died in the wreck.After the accident, his high school collaborated with the UNC Hospital School to provide Frias with English 4, the only required class he needed to receive a diploma from Central Academy, Bateman said.“He slugged through senior English. He is not able to read or write so all of his tests were given orally. His perseverance is a testament to his character,” she said.The Hospital School, located in the UNC Hospitals complex, provides yearlong kindergarten to twelfth grade educational services for patients, Bateman said.After the accident Frias was put into a medically induced coma until March, she said. He began his studies at the Hospital School in April between skin graft surgeries and other procedures.“Ryan was a phenomenal student. He had a great drive and was a member of the soccer team, played in the band and was enrolled in the pre-engineering academy,” said Rod Miller, principal of Central Academy.Miller said the accident has brought his high school together.“He was one of the most popular kids at school. His nickname was Scooter. The kids have started selling bracelets and T-shirts with scooters on them to raise money for the family,” he said.Frias said the accident has not altered his plans for the future. He said he wants to continue his education and eventually travel the country. “I haven’t changed my plans, I just have to rework how I do them,” Frias said. “I want to go to college and get a mechanical engineering degree. I want to work with anything with two wheels, preferably motorcycles.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
The walls of 206 W. Franklin St. are currently bare save for a few T-shirts featuring Irish witticisms.Soon the space will be filled with antique wall crests and a bar, transplanted directly from pubs in Dublin.Dave Magrogan, creator of Kildare’s Pub, goes to Ireland and looks for bars going out of business or selling off items so he can create authentic pubs in the U.S.The bar will officially open in November.Magrogan said he began working in the restaurant business when he was 12 years old. He worked through college waiting tables and bartending.He graduated with a pre-med degree and went on to get his chiropractor’s license. But while he studied medicine, Magrogan said the restaurant business was always at the back of his mind.He sold his chiropractor’s practice six years ago to pursue the restaurant industry, opening the original Kildare’s in West Chester, Pa. Magrogan said his Irish ancestry led him to visit the country and inspired him.“I grew up in a large Irish family, Magrogan said. “My grandfather kept up Irish tradition and visited a pub every Sunday.”Magrogan spent two years researching Irish pubs, hired Irish consultants, and took a course offered by Guinness to learn the subtleties of the Irish beer.“People can tell the difference between an authentic Irish pub and a bar with a shamrock on the wall,” Magrogan said.Kildare’s will serve popular Irish drinks like layered pints featuring Guinness, Harp and Bass.“A properly poured pint of Guinness in a Guinness glass is a part of the Irish experience. We don’t use $2 beer,” said Magrogan.The Kildare’s in Chapel Hill is the chain’s first expansion to the South. Kildare’s has four other locations in Pennsylvania and Delaware in addition to the original West Chester location.Greg Stephenson, managing partner of the Chapel Hill Kildare’s, said the company eventually wants to operate at least six franchises in the state.“The economy hasn’t taken a serious downturn in North Carolina,” Stephenson said. “We want to expand to areas like Raleigh and Greenville.”Magrogan said the original West Chester location boasted customers such as MTV’s Jackass stars Bam Margera, Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O.He said he was originally attracted to Chapel Hill because the college atmosphere was similar to the bar’s original West Chester location.Senior Erin Osborne said she thinks any new bar will draw a crowd.The theme isn’t really important,” said Osborne. “People are more interested in drink specials.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
The Town of Chapel Hill is beginning to see the first of government stimulus funds after a lengthy application process.The town applied for 17 stimulus-funded grants, said Ken Pennoyer, business management director for Chapel Hill. So far, approximately $9.4 million has been awarded to the town, he said.“Anybody is able to apply for these grants,” said Pennoyer. “Depending on each project, we are competing against other local governments, nonprofits or for-profit enterprises.”The town’s grant applications include projects for the installation of broadband technology and programs geared toward energy efficiency.Grant proposals were also submitted for police salaries and equipment, new buses and renovations to public housing.Five smaller proposals also received government funding, said Coco Hall, purchasing and contract manager for Chapel Hill. The projects include improvements to street conditions with traffic calming devices, pedestrian islands and in-street pedestrian lighting.Contractors from the state are currently being chosen for these projects, she said.The $787 billion recovery plan was enacted by the U.S. Congress on Feb. 13 to boost economic activity by granting money to state governments, schools, hospitals and other organizations or contractors.The stimulus funds were distributed throughout 28 federal agencies charged with allotting the money.The town’s two largest grants were awarded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Transit Administration.The FTA awarded the town more than $2.7 million for the purchase of eight new buses and bus maintenance.HUD’s grant of more than $732,000 will be used to renovate 15 public housing neighborhoods in Chapel Hill.The federal departments consider each grant proposal competitively when deciding which projects to fund, said Jeanne Tate, assistant director of management and finance for the town.Some departments use a formula allocation process that looks at the population of an area when determining how much money will be awarded.Chapel Hill’s grant applications were developed by town staff members from various departments under the advisement of management. The funds the town will receive are determined on a rolling basis.“These are projects that would have been completed eventually, it’s a question of doing them sooner,” Tate said. “The government only chooses to fund shovel-ready projects.”Tate said that for an energy efficiency grant, the town had to develop a concrete plan within 60 days.“They want to get this money out to the communities as quickly as possible,” she said.But the recovery funds do come with some provisions, like hiring a certain percentage of minority contractors, Hall said. Tate said funds are often forfeited when town officials think they cannot comply with government constraints placed on the money.“We have to follow certain guidelines, and there is lots of reporting to be done,” Hall said. “The government wants to know what is happening with their money.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
The Neighborhood Night Out block party has been going on for seven years, but this year a partnership with UNC’s Good Neighbor Initiative drew a diverse mix of students and Northside residents on Tuesday night.The event, designed to foster community togetherness, was paired with the Good Neighbor Initiative because of an increase of students in the neighborhood.“College students are invading Northside. There have been a lot more college students at the event this year,” said 13-year-old volunteer face-painter Danielle Bailey, who has attended the event every year.“I think it’s important that they attend events like the block party to become a part of the community.”Senior Katharine Pelzer’s professor told her about the event, and Pelzer decided to attend.“It’s important for students to form a relationship with the community, to know the people,” she said.“It seems counterintuitive to ignore this area.”The Good Neighbor Initiative, which threw its own block party last year, decided to partner with the Neighborhood Night Out to encourage students to build respectful relationships with their neighbors and keep their communities clean and safe.“For a harmonious neighborhood, you need to have everyone respecting each other. Students have very different working hours than other residents and sometimes forget that,”said Linda Convissor, the director of local relations for the University.The Neighborhood Night Out, co-sponsored by the Chapel Hill Police Department, has traditionally focused on community unity and local crime awareness.“Every year across the globe, National Night Out occurs to promote taking back the streets from violence,” said Robin Clark, community relations officer for the Chapel Hill Police Department.Last week, Good Neighbor participants handed out a resource booklet for residents. The booklet was passed out to 1,000 residents and includes information about town services, neighborhood resources, volunteer opportunities and neighborhood histories.The initiative focuses on the Northside, Pine Knolls, North Columbia and Cameron-McCauley neighborhoods, all of which contain a mix of students and permanent residents.“There is a slight disconnect between students and residents. We feel that students are open to meeting their neighbors, and we just want to facilitate that,” said Deanna Carson, director of community programs at Empowerment, Inc.The event featured a neighborhood walk, a bounce house, a DJ, face painting and free food from Jimmy John’s.
Local tourism promoters are trying to tap into a $70.3 billion national gay and lesbian travel market by hosting an event for representatives from the industry beginning today.The Chapel Hill/Orange County’s Visitor’s Bureau will host the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association symposium through Sunday.“We want to market to people who can present our information to a large audience,” bureau director Laurie Paolicelli said. “We are looking at this from a purely economic perspective.” The event’s timing coincides with the N.C. Pride festival, an annual celebration featuring a parade, this weekend in Durham.The symposium will market Southern culture, restaurants, hotels and nightlife in Chapel Hill to representatives of the gay travel industry.“Gay ethos is interwoven into who we are as a community, which makes Chapel Hill an attractive destination for the gay community,” said Paolicelli. “They can kiss and hold hands and not worry about jeers or cat calls.” But sophomore Billy Kluttz, outreach coordinator for UNC’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender -Straight Alliance, said he feels that the bureau is being opportunistic.“Industry only cares about the queer community when it is profitable,” he said. “They ignore our political and social struggles on a daily basis and fail to support us when we truly need it.”Paolicelli said the event is needed because Chapel Hill in recent years has lost gay tourism to Durham and Asheville. The 33 attendees of the symposium include representatives from travel agencies, airlines and publications such as The Advocate, Creative Loafing and Passport Magazine.“Chapel Hill offers a Southern quaintness that is very attractive to young gay professionals,” said junior Enrique Perez, a freelance writer attending the event for Passport Magazine. “The South is an under-the-radar gold mine for gay travel.” Chapel Hill Town Council member and mayoral candidate Mark Kleinschmidt, who is gay, said gays often travel more frequently and have more disposable income than other tourists.“Tourism is the lifeblood of Chapel Hill, and it is essential that we appeal to them,” he said.Three openly gay local government officials — Kleinschmidt, Carrboro Alderman Lydia Lavelle and county commissioner Mike Nelson — will speak at the event. Paolicelli said she anticipates the event will cost $8,000 to $10,000 but that it can be easily recouped if gay tourism rates increase.She said she wants representatives of the travel industry to start thinking about Orange County as a vacation destination that accepts all people.“We would also like to see the business of our hotels and downtown restaurants increase.”The event’s itinerary includes a cooking class at A Southern Season, dinner at Crook’s Corner and a tour of Triangle nightlife. Attendees are told to visit West End Wine Bar in Chapel Hill and gay nightclubs in Raleigh such as Legends, The CC and Flex Club.GLBTSA publicity co-chairman Will Davis said Chapel Hill lacks a thriving gay nightlife, and he would rather visit bigger cities.“I could see Chapel Hill attracting the 30- to 40-something set, but no one in their 20s,” Davis said. “I find it hard to think of Chapel Hill as a vacation destination.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
T-shirts and chicken wire will be twisted into a 9-foot eco-friendly turkey during the next few weeks at East Chapel Hill High School.The turkey will be entered into the N.C. State Fair’s third annual “Farm Animal Frenzy” sculpture contest. Elaine Walton, an art teacher at East Chapel Hill High, was one of the first to e-mail the state agriculture department, which sponsors of the fair, about the competition. The school was selected July 30 as one of 20 to participate.“They were immediately chosen to participate,” said Natalie Alford of the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services.Each school received a wooden saw horse to transform into a farm animal.A minimum of 80 percent of the materials must be recycled. Students can use things such as old toys, used car parts, newspapers, bottles and cans, fabric or CDs to create their sculptures. In the past, participants were given a large fiberglass farm animal to decorate, but this year the competition is going to be environmentally friendly. “The contest suggests using car or machinery parts but that wouldn’t be easy to do in a classroom,” said Walton.The N.C. Department of Agriculture will provide $500 to help offset the cost of materials and transportation. Walton’s studio art class of 15 students immediately began construction after receiving the saw horse Sept. 4, she said. Stuart Alfano, one of Walton’s students, said the class has started hardening the T-shirts with Plaster of Paris to make them waterproof. The class will then place the shirts on the chicken wire mold.“I have never done anything like this before, but I really enjoy having my whole art class work together on a project,” said Alfano.Judges will pronounce the winners Oct. 12 at the State Fair in Raleigh. The top prize is $1,000.“Judges will be looking for … how creative they were in using these unusual materials to design and build a farm animal,” Alford said.The students have supplied the majority of recycled fabrics being used in the project, Walton said. Alford said after the winner is declared at the fair, the public can vote on their favorite animal online from Oct. 15 to Oct. 22.The recyclable artwork will be displayed at the Raleigh state fairgrounds for three weeks, she said.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.