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(08/19/06 4:00am)
July 13 - The Chapel Hill and Orange County area - as well as the rest of the Carolinas - is experiencing its worst blood supply shortage in three years.
Debbie Estes, with the Carolinas Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross, said the region is experiencing a shortage in four blood types: O-negative, O-positve, B-negative and B-positive.
"We do typically experience a shortage in the summer months, but this one tends to be a little more severe," Estes said.
"It seems to be lasting a little longer."
Wilma Palmer, blood services coordinator with the Orange County chapter of the Red Cross, said people aren't thinking as much about donating blood during summer.
"What happens typically during the summer is folks go on vacation, they have a change in their routine and we just don't get as many donors," she said.
Chapel Hill recently hosted the Carolina Blood Drive to help combat the shortage. Held in the Smith Center, it was the largest single-day drive on the East Coast and the third-largest single-day drive in the country.
It was amazing," Palmer said.
"We got 860 units of blood and we had - this is the really great statistic - 139 first-time donors. If those folks will come back a couple of times each year, we can just keep building our program here."
Jeff Davis, donor resources development senior level recruiter for the American Red Cross, said the blood drive will help the region for a while, but problems could arise if donations don't continue at the similar rates.
"What will happen is a lot of times the hospitals push back more of their elective surgeries," he said.
"It can also mean that if we don't have (the blood) in this area that we may have to import it, and delay some surgeries."
Estes said that the blood supply shortage extends across much of the rest of the nation as well, which could cause even more problems.
"The Carolinas region is the largest region within the Red Cross system," she said.
"If we're experiencing these difficulties,
the other regions in the country are as well."
Palmer said that the shortage is serious but that fear mongering is not necessarily the answer to getting people to donate blood.
"I don't ever want to scare people," she said.
"We're going to work together on this and make it through. But we need people to help."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(08/19/06 4:00am)
June 22 - Chapel Hill's preparedness for flooding has come into question after the rain brought by Tropical Storm Alberto caused flooding all across the Triangle.
"We have the potential for quite a bit of flooding, since we do have so many creeks that run through Chapel Hill," said Wendy Smith, environmental education coordinator for the town's stormwater management program.
She added that some areas are more prone to flooding than others, including Eastgate Shopping Center, University Mall and Camelot Village condominiums.
Smith said Camelot Village is especially at risk because it is in the floodplain of Bolin Creek.
In August 2005, the town received a $2.3 million hazard mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the N.C. Division of Emergency Management to buy out and demolish three of the at-risk condominium buildings.
Sue Burke, a stormwater management engineer, said the town will not have to cover any of the cost, because 75 percent of the grant comes from federal money and the state has agreed to provide the required 25 percent match.
The next step, Burke said, is to choose a group to appraise the buildings and provide those numbers to Camelot Village residents.
"So far, all the residents or unit owners have indicated a willingness to getting an appraisal," she said.
Joel Duvall, the property manager of the condos, acknowledged that flooding is an issue but said agreeing to an appraisal doesn't mean all residents are willing to move.
"I think it's doubtful," he said. "It would depend on the price."
In order for the demolition to be allowed, all 12 unit owners in each building would have to agree to move, Duvall said.
"They also have to have the approval of 76 percent of the remaining owners to allow them to be taken out of the condominium association. The disincentive there is fewer people contributing to common expenses," he said.
In addition, Duvall said residents likely won't be offered enough money to afford other housing in town.
Smith said the stormwater management program met with the residents last year and explained the danger of the area.
"The fire department sent a representative to talk about the hazards during a flood event when they do have to go down and evacuate people," she said.
Burke said Flood Insurance Rate Maps are used when determining areas in danger of flooding.
The maps distinguish the boundaries of floodplains and determine the base flood elevation. They are completed based on river basins, rather than counties.
Chapel Hill falls in the Cape Fear basin, and the state currently is attempting to draw up finalized maps for the area.
Burke said Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of Orange County return comments to the state agency, which determines whether they are "substantive enough to issue another round of preliminary maps."
She said comments could range from correcting street names and stream locations to questioning the width of the floodplain boundaries.
"Once they issue the final maps then the jurisdiction has six months to adopt the maps to maintain its participation in the National Flood Insurance Program," Burke said of the program allowing residents and businesses to buy flood insurance.
Smith said flood insurance is important for all homeowners to buy, as it typically is not included in homeowner's insurance policies.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(07/20/06 4:00am)
After a brief scare, patrons of the Chapel Hill staple The Rathskeller can rest easy. The Rat will reopen.
Owner Francis Henry said he expects the restaurant to be open by the Week of Welcome - Aug. 17 - when students arrive back at Carolina for the new school year.
"I need to be open for them," he said.
The restaurant, located in Amber Alley below Franklin Street, has served meals such as lasagna, steak and even a bowl of cheese for more than 50 years. It closed its doors about a month ago, citing the need for "long overdue repairs."
After talks with the property owners, Henry said, he can reopen the eatery.
He said some of the repairs expected to be completed before the reopening include fixing up the Cave room, which was flooded about two years ago. An artist will come to the restaurant in the next few days and fix up "a few fine points," he added.
"Basically, we're going to try and spend this time refinishing and trying to figure out what to do with the graffiti," Henry said, clarifying that he doesn't plan to completely eliminate the markings that generations of students have made in the restaurant.
"Graffiti will never end in the Rat, but I'm gonna get it out of the front room for sure," he said. "The kids seem to enjoy it so much, but we need to make it a little more reasonable."
John Riddle, who was a graduate student at UNC in 1963, said he doesn't mind the markings.
"Normally, I don't like graffiti, but it seems to be so much of the ambiance of the place that I like it," he said. "I'll still come, but if they paint it like a hospital then it won't be the same thing."
Riddle said news of the Rat's reopening came as a pleasant surprise, adding that his wife exclaimed "hot dog!" when she heard the news.
Henry, who purchased the restaurant in 2000 along with three business partners - eventually buying them out - said he hopes other Chapel Hill residents share Riddle's sentiments.
He also said he expects a "wonderful football schedule" to contribute to a successful fall season for the restaurant.
Still, he said, he will be looking in the near future for a younger manager to take over the business for him, as he has other projects"that he has held back since he purchased the restaurant.
"I'm ready to move on, but it has to be the person that has the same ideological outlook on the place (as me)," he said. "As everything changes on Franklin Street, I want the Rat to be as close to the old days as possible."
He said he plans to rehire all of the old wait staff and will hire a few "fun-type" college students to add to the Rat's laid-back atmosphere.
Riddle said the Rat holds a special place in UNC alumni's hearts.
"It's just vintage Chapel Hill," he said. "There's just so many generations of students that have used that to have long conversations over their great tea. A lot of philosophy went across those tables. A lot of politics."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(07/20/06 4:00am)
Another big business could be headed to Franklin Street.
Walgreens Co. is opening new stores in North Carolina and is looking specifically at Chapel Hill, said Carol Hively, the corporate spokeswoman for the drug store.
"We have been growing very quickly in the state, and we're looking at a lot of locations," Hively said. "It's just too soon to say where we're opening a store and when. It could be that we've asked or made inquiries, but there's nothing (in our database) right now."
The potential location is expected to be on the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, underneath Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery.
"What we're looking for is the very corner of a major intersection," Hively said of typical Walgreens locations.
Hively said the time frame for opening a Walgreens drug store ranges from nine months to three years, because of factors such as who owns the property and how long it takes to get a project green-lighted by Walgreens itself.
Joe Riddle, of Fayetteville-based Riddle Commercial Properties, owns the property under Top of the Hill.
He was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but has told The Daily Tar Heel in past interviews that he hoped to fill the space with a single tenant.
Scott Maitland, the owner of Top of the Hill, wrote in an e-mail that his restaurant was originally planning to move into some space in Riddle's property.
"At one point there was discussion about Top of the Hill taking some space downstairs that was unwanted by a national organization that would be taking the rest of the space," Maitland wrote.
"Unfortunately, it appears as if there is some holdup with the national organization and, quite frankly, it is unclear if the deal will work out with our landlord."
If Walgreens is the national organization, it would compete with Kerr Drug, located across the street at 109 E. Franklin St. and Sutton's Drug Store, at 159 E. Franklin St.
Hively said the location in Chapel Hill, within walking distance of campus, as well as so close to UNC Hospitals, would be very beneficial to the drug store.
"The pharmacy is the biggest part of the business at the store," she said.
"The other part, the convenience items, may be of interest to students," she said.
The business would join companies, such as Wachovia, Buffalo Wild Wings, Ben & Jerry's and Qdoba Mexican Grill on Franklin Street, in a town where much emphasis is put on keeping things local.
Hively maintained that nothing is certain yet, but it seems promising that a Walgreens could be coming to Franklin Street.
"We are interested in having a store in Chapel Hill, but it's just no farther than that right now," she said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(07/20/06 4:00am)
Carrboro Elementary School failed to meet federally mandated standards for student performance last year - and the school could lose students because of it.
School officials announced Tuesday that the school's Latino students failed to meet so-called Annual Yearly Progress standards outlined by the federal No Child Left Behind law. Because at least one of the school's populations hasn't met those standards for the second straight year, parents have the option of taking their students out of the school and sending them to either Ephesus Road Elementary or Estes Hills Elementary instead.
(07/13/06 4:00am)
The Chapel Hill and Orange County area - as well as the rest of the Carolinas - is experiencing its worst blood supply shortage in three years.
Debbie Estes, with the Carolinas Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross, said the region is experiencing a shortage in four blood types: O-negative, O-positve, B-negative and B-positive.
"We do typically experience a shortage in the summer months, but this one tends to be a little more severe," Estes said. "It seems to be lasting a little longer."
Wilma Palmer, blood services coordinator with the Orange County chapter of the Red Cross, said people aren't thinking as much about donating blood during summer.
"What happens typically during the summer is folks go on vacation, they have a change in their routine and we just don't get as many donors," she said.
Chapel Hill recently hosted the Carolina Blood Drive to help combat the shortage. Held in the Smith Center, it was the largest single-day drive on the East Coast and the third-largest single-day drive in the country.
It was amazing," Palmer said. "We got 860 units of blood and we had - this is the really great statistic - 139 first-time donors. If those folks will come back a couple of times each year, we can just keep building our program here."
Jeff Davis, donor resources development senior level recruiter for the American Red Cross, said the blood drive will help the region for a while, but problems could arise if donations don't continue at the similar rates.
"What will happen is a lot of times the hospitals push back more of their elective surgeries," he said. "It can also mean that if we don't have (the blood) in this area that we may have to import it, and delay some surgeries."
Estes said that the blood supply shortage extends across much of the rest of the nation as well, which could cause even more problems.
"The Carolinas region is the largest region within the Red Cross system," she said. "If we're experiencing these difficulties, the other regions in the country are as well."
Palmer said that the shortage is serious but that fear mongering is not necessarily the answer to getting people to donate blood.
"I don't ever want to scare people," she said. "We're going to work together on this and make it through. But we need people to help."
The next blood drive in the region is 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at Triangle Church, 5510 Barbee Chapel Road.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(07/13/06 4:00am)
Undergraduate students now have a chance to earn money, class credit and experience in local government at the same time.
The Chapel Hill Town Council recently approved an internship program that will give 10 students per semester from area universities the chance to work for different town departments starting in the upcoming school year.
Council member Bill Thorpe was the biggest supporter of the plan, having pushed for it since he listed it as part of his platform when he was elected in 2005.
Thorpe said being in school hinders some students from getting jobs out of college, as it's sometimes tough to get a good internship.
"You don't have an opportunity to get any experience because you're in school, and that will hold you back," he said. "This will give you a chance to get some experience and get you ahead of the game."
Council member Mark Kleinschmidt commended Thorpe on his work behind the scenes to get the program up and running.
"He's the real leader on this," he said. "This is one of his primary campaign objectives, and it was nice to see him champion this in the budget process."
Most every section of town government will offer an internship, including the planning department, transportation department, public works department and Town Council.
Kleinschmidt said the different internships will allow for students from all majors to apply.
"Each function the town engages in requires a different skill set," he said.
"There's a large variety of options for students to choose from, and consequently we'll be able to attract students from all over the University."
Kleinschmidt added that while the program will probably initially serve mostly UNC students, he hopes students from neighboring schools, such as N.C. Central University and N.C. State, will participate as well.
Thorpe said the town will try to give out the internships to many different students, so it is not likely a student will intern for the town more than once.
"There are going to be a lot of people that are trying to get in, so it's not going to be practical that you're going to be doing it twice - but you're not disqualified," he said. "We're trying to spread it around."
Interns will work from 12 to 15 hours per week for either one or two semesters, depending on the department. A $1,000 stipend will be paid to the interns for each semester.
"You're not working for free; this is a job for the entire semester," Thorpe said. "The supervisor will point out a project that they want (the interns) to do, and they'll work."
Council member Laurin Easthom said that the town has offered internships on a less formal basis in the past but that that they mostly involved working with the town manager or a few different departments.
"This is the first time that we will have interns working directly with the council," she said. "I'm very excited to be a part of that."
Easthom said the interns won't be the only ones who benefit from the program.
"It's a win-win situation for both the students and the council and the staff," she said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/29/06 4:00am)
The Chapel Hill Town Council voted unanimously to name Roger Stancil the new town manager at a meeting Monday in which it also honored the man he will replace.
Stancil, the former city manager of Fayetteville, will take over Sept. 1 for Cal Horton, who has served as town manager for more than 15 years.
Former mayor Jonathan Howes, who hired Horton in 1989 as public safety director, had kind words for the retiring manager.
"For us and for the town councils that followed, Cal really personifies the art of town management," he said.
Mayor Kevin Foy spoke as well. "I will miss Cal's wise council and his warm smile and even his occasional scowl," he said.
The council held 12 hours of scheduled deliberations during the weekend before deciding on Horton's replacement and offering him a contract.
Stancil will make a starting salary of $147,400.
Foy said Stancil's extensive experience and skills separated him from the other two finalists.
"Roger demonstrated not just a long history of experience in city management but also a calm demeanor, a very reflective way of responding to questions, an ability to analyze situations and suggest creative ways of approaching them," Foy said.
"All of those things combined, along with his general ability to align with the candidate profile that we had established early on, just pointed to him as clearly the best qualified candidate for the job."
Stancil, a native of Rocky Mount, attended graduate school at UNC to earn his master's of public administration in 1982.
Stancil was not available for comment Tuesday.
"Roger has 20 years of experience in dealing with North Carolina issues that certainly could be similar to the kinds of issues that we deal with," Foy said of Stancil, who has been involved in local government since 1971, most recently in Fayetteville.
"Certainly that helps him to hit the ground running," Foy said.
Stancil resigned from his position as Fayetteville city manager after being forced out after a 42,000-person annexation and large changes in the council.
"It was probably a good time to make a change," Stancil said in a previous interview.
Foy said Stancil was willing to elaborate on the issue of his resignation from Fayetteville for anyone who wanted to know, and so it was not an issue for the council.
"Roger didn't do anything wrong," he said. "All things considered, we're lucky that he left Fayetteville."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/29/06 4:00am)
The man who drove a rented SUV through the Pit on March 3 said June 21 in Orange County Superior Court that he plans to plead guilty on all 18 felony counts he faces.
Mohammad Taheri-Azar, who is being held in Raleigh's Central Prison on $5.5 million bail, also decided against his earlier requests to represent himself.
Taheri-Azar told Judge Carl Fox he would rather allow defense attorney James Williams to speak on his behalf on the condition he can speak with the attorney prior than to continue the psychiatric evaluations he had to go through in order to legally represent himself.
Williams was not available for comment Tuesday.
Fox said he would not hold Taheri-Azar to his statement that he would plead guilty.
Both of Taheri-Azar's decisions came as a surprise, as they contradict letters he sent in recent weeks to The Daily Tar Heel.
He wrote that he would plead not guilty to his charges - nine counts of attempted first-degree murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He also stated that he would represent himself and that he planned to give the court only two statements:
"First, that 'I promise to never plan or carry-out another attack on Americans,' and second, that 'if the court finds me 'not guilty,' then I intend to continue living in the United States of America and working full-time.'"
He added that he could neither confirm nor deny whether he intended to uphold the promises.
On Wednesday, Taheri-Azar initially voiced a request to dismiss Williams and represent himself.
"It's the way I feel most comfortable regarding my legal situation," he said, citing his knowledge of philosophy that he planned to use to his advantage in court.
But Fox began to explain to Taheri-Azar that it would not be advantageous for him to represent himself because of the many years of experience of the other lawyers in the court.
"Because of your lack of experience and lack of knowledge of the law, it puts you at an uneven position relative to the state, because there are some things that you can't ask without it seeming almost ludicrous," Fox said, giving the example of jury selection.
Fox told the suspect that he would consider granting his request only if he could prove through psychological exams that he was capable of representing himself in court.
Taheri-Azar stated that he would rather keep his attorney than participate in the examinations.
During the hearing, Taheri-Azar's sisters, Lida and Laila, were sitting a few rows behind him, softly crying.
Taheri-Azar avoided eye contact with them until Fox asked if they were his sisters.
Taheri-Azar confirmed that they were, and when asked if he would like to speak to them, he declined, causing one of the sisters to let out an audible cry.
"I have not allowed them to visit me," Taheri-Azar told the judge.
Fox spoke quietly with the sisters, who have not seen their brother in a number of months, after the hearing was over.
It is unclear whether the sisters have been able to speak with Taheri-Azar since the hearing, as neither could be reached for comment.
Fox scheduled Taheri-Azar's next court appearance for Sept. 19 to see how the arrangement between he and Williams is going.
Williams told the court that "if there's a need to get in sooner, we can."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/29/06 4:00am)
When Michael Sisolak starting driving a school bus six years ago - fresh out of high school - he knew right away he loved it.
"I care about kids a lot, and I try to take care of them," he said, standing in front of his new school bus in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Hillsborough.
That's why he was at the Orange County Schools Dept. of Transportation's bus driver fair, trying to recruit other people to the job he loves.
The June 24 fair was the second in two weekends, and Sisolak said they've had a good enough turnout they may hold one more before it's all said and done.
The fair's goal is to give out applications to potential drivers, and Sisolak, along with transportation director Robert Miller, had a table and a few folding chairs set up with applications and a pay chart - not to mention a large yellow school bus behind them - to show to interested applicants.
Miller said they usually aim to give out a dozen applications at the recruiting fairs but considered the "six or seven" he and Sisolak handed out by noon to be a decent turnout.
"We're tickled with what we gave out already," Miller said, with an hour to spare in the fair on Saturday. "We really need drivers. We struggled last year."
Sisolak, an assistant bus manager, who in addition to driving a bus has a desk job with the transportation department, said some buses this year took both middle- and high-schoolers to school, which won't happen next year because of changing start and stop times for schools in the district.
The Orange County Board of Education voted on June 19 to standardize the district's bell times - in part to help streamline bus routes and allow for buses to take on two separate routes, rather than have two different schools on one bus.
Miller said the change might help, but new bus drivers are always needed. He added it is not a long process to become a bus driver and is well worth the effort.
Sisolak described the process, which includes filling out the application, a physical examination, three days of training in a classroom and three on the road and finally getting a Commercial Driver's License.
After six months on the job, the driver gets reimbursed the approximately $120 it costs to obtain the license.
Sisolak said there are plenty of perks to the job, including a bonus before Christmas and potentially $180 extra dollars if the driver works every day.
"It's 50 cents in the morning and 50 cents in the evening, so that's a dollar a day for 180 school days," Sisolak said.
A driver starts out with a salary of $10.81 an hour, which increases every year up to $15.17 after 18 years.
"It's a good part-time job for anybody," Miller said, but added that it takes a special person to be a bus driver.
He described the toughness of dealing with 40 to 50 kids on a bus while driving 45 mph down the road.
"It's hard enough with them sitting in the living room looking at you," he said with a laugh.
Miller explained that bus drivers make quite an impression on children and that can be very rewarding, especially considering the important job they have.
"Some kids can't get to school or get educated without drivers," he said.
That explains the motto on many of the signs at the fair: "Helping kids prepare for the future."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/22/06 4:00am)
A Franklin Street staple of more than 50 years closed last week, and it remains unclear whether it will ever open its doors again.
"The building is in need of long overdue repairs," the sign on the door of the Rathskeller reads.
"If the building owners will cooperate in making the necessary repairs to their building and make it possible to re-gain your business, we will look forward to serving you in an updated facility - the new old Rat - by the end of the summer."
The Rat, as it is affectionately called, has served staples such as lasagna and steaks for decades from its subterranean home in Amber Alley, located below Franklin Street.
It wasn't clear what kind of renovations have to be made to the Rathskeller. Owner Francis Henry, who originally bought the restaurant with three business partners in 2000 and later bought them out, did not want to comment on the situation. Officials with Chapel Hill-based Morris Commercial Inc. - which, according to state filings, manages the property for the landlord, Munch Family Properties - weren't available.
The Rat last faced peril in 1999, when it was put up for sale and nearly wasn't purchased. Henry and his business partners saved the restaurant at the time.
John Riddle, who was a graduate student at UNC in 1963, called the Rat's closing, temporary or not, a tragedy.
"It was a meeting place after the library closed," Riddle said. "It just had the atmosphere."
Alisa DeMao, UNC class of '93, agreed.
"I liked some of the history of the place, knowing there had been generations of other students, being able to leave your mark on it, literally," she said, referring to the decades of graffiti on the walls and tables.
Those memories were part of the reason Henry agreed to run the restaurant in the first place, as he told the DTH in a 2002 interview.
"I had my first date here," he said at the time. "A little red-headed girl - I can never for the life of me remember her name. But I remember it was at the Rat."
County records show that all taxes owed by Ramshead Rathskeller LLC have been paid. State records show the Burlington-based MidCarolina Bank canceled some sort of finance agreement with the Rathskeller at the beginning of the month.
The contact for MidCarolina listed on the state document, Brenda Clapp, was not available for comment.
The Rathskeller opened in 1948 as the brainchild of the Danziger family. Riddle remembered them fondly - particularly Betty Danziger, known to regulars as Mama.
"As students were out of money, they would go by, and she'd either loan them money or feed them until they got money," Riddle said. "The whole place was very dear to the students' hearts."
Recently, the Rathskeller began to lose some of its luster for new students. Riddle says students' lack of knowledge of the restaurant's tradition is to blame, and he said he's noticed the changing clientele.
"The number of people in there had gone down, and the age had gone up," he said, adding he noticed mostly older alumni rather than current students when he ate there.
DeMao seconded Riddle's observations and said she and many people in her class were only "kind of" fans of the Rat.
"I liked knowing that it was there, but it wasn't somewhere that I would eat a lot," she said.
"I know that there are people who are devoted fans of it, but it always did seem to be more of an occasion thing. I think either the food needs to go a little more upscale, or maybe prices need to go down some."
Riddle wasn't so sure.
"When you have a state of perfection, there's no reason to change."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/22/06 4:00am)
Chapel Hill's preparedness for flooding has come into question after the rain brought by Tropical Storm Alberto caused flooding in across the Triangle last week.
"We have the potential for quite a bit of flooding, since we do have so many creeks that run through Chapel Hill," said Wendy Smith, environmental education coordinator for the town's stormwater management program.
She added that some areas are more prone to flooding than others, including Eastgate Shopping Center, University Mall and Camelot Village condominiums.
Smith said Camelot Village is especially at risk because it is in the floodplain of Bolin Creek.
In August 2005, the town received a $2.3 million hazard mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the N.C. Division of Emergency Management to buy out and demolish three of the at-risk condominium buildings.
Sue Burke, a stormwater management engineer, said the town will not have to cover any of the cost, because 75 percent of the grant comes from federal money and the state has agreed to provide the required 25 percent match.
The next step, Burke said, is to choose a group to appraise the buildings and provide those numbers to Camelot Village residents.
"So far, all the residents or unit owners have indicated a willingness to getting an appraisal," she said.
Joel Duvall, the property manager of the condos, acknowledged that flooding is an issue but said agreeing to an appraisal doesn't mean all residents are willing to move.
"I think it's doubtful," he said. "It would depend on the price."
In order for the demolition to be allowed, all 12 unit owners in each building would have to agree to move, Duvall said.
"They also have to have the approval of 76 percent of the remaining owners to allow them to be taken out of the condominium association. The disincentive there is fewer people contributing to common expenses," he said.
In addition, Duvall said residents likely won't be offered enough money to afford other housing in town.
Smith said the stormwater management program met with the residents last year and explained the danger of the area.
"The fire department sent a representative to talk about the hazards during a flood event when they do have to go down and evacuate people," she said.
Burke said Flood Insurance Rate Maps are used when determining areas in danger of flooding.
The maps distinguish the boundaries of floodplains and determine the base flood elevation. They are completed based on river basins, rather than counties.
Chapel Hill falls in the Cape Fear basin, and the state currently is attempting to draw up finalized maps for the area.
Burke said Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of Orange County return comments to the state agency, which determines whether they are "substantive enough to issue another round of preliminary maps."
She said comments could range from correcting street names and stream locations to questioning the width of the floodplain boundaries.
"Once they issue the final maps then the jurisdiction has six months to adopt the maps to maintain its participation in the National Flood Insurance Program," Burke said of the program allowing residents and businesses to buy flood insurance.
Smith said flood insurance is important for all homeowners to buy, as it typically is not included in homeowner's insurance policies.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/22/06 4:00am)
Jesse Tafoya was rolling through Carrboro on a business trip Tuesday when he stopped at a Kangaroo Market on N.C. 54 and bought some snacks, a drink and a lottery ticket.
"Every place we go through, we buy tickets," said Tafoya, who was on his way to New York after making a delivery in Chapel Hill.
In August 2005, the N.C. state legislature passed the controversial bill creating the North Carolina Education Lottery. The first ticket was sold March 30.
On May 30, Powerball - the multistate lottery whose jackpot can reach hundreds of millions of dollars - saw its tickets go on sale in North Carolina.
And a few weeks ago, a winning ticket was sold in Chapel Hill. Keyana Purefoy, a Durham resident, won $200,000 with Powerball numbers she chose at a Cruizers convenience store on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Most of the money from the lottery - which had sold more than $180 million in tickets and given out more than $97 million in prizes as of June 11 - will go toward public education in North Carolina.
Tafoya said he has seen the benefits of the lottery in California, his home state, where profits have funded many school improvements.
Tafoya bought the truck and the trailer he was driving with about $115,000 won in the California lottery several years ago, part of a $2.5 million jackpot split among about 20 people.
Winners aside, the lottery has also benefited gas stations, convenience stores and supermarkets.
Several store owners interviewed said they believe the tickets help draw customers into the store, who spend most of their money on other products. Vendors said they sell about 200 tickets a day, on average.
"The week it first began, profits were up about 26 percent," recalled DeVaughn Best Jr., a store clerk at Cruizers on South Fordham Boulevard.
Store managers around Chapel Hill say that in the first weeks of the lottery, sales of lottery tickets boomed but have since dropped off.
"A lot of people came in at first, but not anymore," said Raghu Tatineni, who operates Family Fare on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Lottery sales at Cruizers are still strong, though, Best said. He estimated that about one in three customers buys a ticket.
Tafoya used the money he won to set up his moving business but said his good luck also strained some friendships.
"They would show up at the door. 'Hey, can you spare a couple of thousand?' It turned a lot of people sour. A lot of my relatives."
Those who play the lottery will keep on dreaming.
As for Tafoya, if he ever wins --- wins big - he said he'll move back to Guadalajara, Mexico, where he's from, and start "a huge company."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/22/06 4:00am)
Mohammad Taheri-Azar, the UNC alumnus who drove an SUV through the Pit on March 3, said Wednesday that he intends to plead guilty to all 18 counts against him.
In his first appearance at Orange County Superior Court, Taheri-Azar also said he'll keep his legal counsel.
Both statements contradicted letters that Taheri-Azar, 23, sent to The Daily Tar Heel. In the letters, Taheri-Azar - who faces nine counts of attempted first-degree murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill - stated that he would plead not guilty and that he did not want Public Defender James Williams to represent him.
On Wednesday, Taheri-Azar initially voiced a request to dismiss his attorney and represent himself. But Judge Carl Fox told the suspect that he would consider allowing his request only if he could prove through psychological exams that he was capable of representing himself in court.
Taheri-Azar decided that he would rather keep his attorney than participate in the examinations.
"I would rather allow Mr. Williams to speak on my behalf as long as I can speak with him prior," he said.
Fox told Taheri-Azar of the dangers of attempting to represent himself.
"Because of your lack of experience and lack of knowledge of the law, it puts you at an uneven position relative to the state," he said, adding that processes such as jury selection would be an issue.
Fox said he would not hold Taheri-Azar to his statement that he intends to plead guilty on all counts
Taheri-Azar's next court appearance is scheduled for September 19.
(06/15/06 4:00am)
More than three months after driving a rented SUV through the Pit and striking nine people, Mohammad Taheri-Azar will appear in court Tuesday.
Taheri-Azar will appear for the first time in Orange County Superior Court and will be represented by public defender James Williams, despite his desire - stated in letters to The Daily Tar Heel - to represent himself.
"It's not uncommon for some criminal defendants to want to represent themselves," said Durham attorney Butch Williams, adding that it is not necessarily a good decision.
"I have never seen anybody represent themselves and get exonerated," he said.
Taheri-Azar wrote in one of his letters to the DTH that he plans to plead "not guilty" on Tuesday, despite repeatedly admitting to committing the act and feeling no remorse about it.
"Due to my religious motivation for the attack, I feel no remorse and am proud to have carried it out in service of and obedience of Allah," he wrote.
Butch Williams said that if Taheri-Azar pleads "not guilty," it will allow a jury of his peers to decide exactly what "guilty" means.
"You don't know whether he's going to try and use an extravagant defense," he said, giving the example of "compulsion for religious beliefs."
"Then you have to determine how viable that is."
Taheri-Azar has sent additional letters to the DTH since the 20 he sent in early May. They include his "meditations" on several issues, including his legal defense.
He wrote that he plans to fire his legal counsel, James Williams, and that he will only make two statements to the court:
"First, that 'I promise to never plan or carry-out another attack on Americans,' and second, that 'if the court finds me 'not guilty,' then I intend to continue living in the United States of America and working full-time,'" he wrote.
He added that he can "neither confirm nor deny" whether he intends to uphold the promises.
James Williams said it is ultimately up to the courts to decide whether he will be Taheri-Azar's counsel or not.
Taheri-Azar's nine counts of attempted first-degree murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill could put him in jail for as many as 150 years if he is proven guilty on all counts.
In his most recent letters to the DTH, Taheri-Azar condemns the University's Muslim Students Association several times. He calls the group a "Ministry of Lies" and discredits the association as a "U.S. government-supported organization aimed at falsifying peoples' understanding of Islam."
Arif Khan, publicity chairman for the MSA, said many of Taheri-Azar's points in the letters are based on the notion that Muhammad's hadiths, or teachings, and the Sunnah, or the Muslim way of life as shown by the Prophet, are not truly part of the religion.
"That's kind of large of him," Khan said. "I don't know why he thinks he has sort of the authority to do that."
Khan said that in his letters,
In his letters, Khan said, Taheri-Azar cites many verses from the Quran that mean different things when placed in their proper context.
The MSA is compiling a summary of the verses cited in Taheri-Azar's letters in order to provide that context, Khan said.
"We're not going to sugarcoat, but there's a context to it that definitely makes it more appropriate and definitely does not justify his actions."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(06/15/06 4:00am)
Chapel Hill will take large steps this week toward employing a new town manager, with two interview sessions scheduled, as well as a public hearing to discuss them.
The Town Council will hold a meeting Tuesday to get acquainted with the candidates and to discuss their initial opinions, followed by a public hearing Wednesday. The council search committee will hold private interviews with the three hopefuls on both days.
The finalists - Frank Ragan, deputy city manager of community services in Aurora, Colo.; Roger Lane Stancil, former city manager in Fayetteville; and Sean R. Stegall, assistant city manager in Elgin, Ill. - said they are prepared for the upcoming deliberations.
Stegall, the least experienced of the three candidates, said he has still been involved in local government for a little more than 10 years and has been "interested and associated with it for 10 additional years."
Ragan has been in local administration for 30 years, and Stancil has been involved for 35.
"I'm just fortunate to have worked with a variety of communities throughout the country," Ragan said.
Said Stancil, "I think I am a strong believer in a team approach to providing services. And that's not only within the staff but between staff and community and council."
Mayor Kevin Foy praised all three of the candidates.
"Each of them has a track record of thinking about the future in creative ways, and so that's what I think they all have in common," said Foy, who served on the search committee for the council.
"That's what distinguished them particularly in the field."
Foy said through the interview process, the council will look to find a manager "who is able to think about the future and move the organization toward being an excellent service-provider 10, 15 years from now."
He said choosing the right candidate will involve looking at how well candidates would interact with neighboring municipalities.
Two of the three candidates were either born or went to school in North Carolina, but Foy insisted there won't be any home field advantage, adding that every candidate will have to get accustomed to Chapel Hill in a speedy fashion.
"The manager is going to have to jump into the issues on Day 1," he said, though he added that a full understanding of the community will take some time for anyone to develop.
Foy expressed confidence in the way the search has been run.
"We've worked hard, and we've tried to be very objective in our analysis of what it is that the town needs," he said.
"To this point, I think we've done it exactly the way we anticipated."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(05/25/06 4:00am)
Late-night Franklin Street diners have another healthy option to satisfy their midnight cravings.
[B]Ski's Tortilla Wrap Grill, located next to Goodfellas and Design 149 at 147 E. Franklin St., finally is open after almost seven months of waiting.
Owner Bradley Smith said the delay came because the whole building - which formerly held Avi's Card Shop - had to be revamped. There were also problems with several contractors.
In February, Smith and his fiancee, Blair Bellard, took over the construction duties for themselves.
They painted walls, laid roofing and sheetrock and even used a jackhammer.
"It was stressful, but we made it through," Bellard said.
Smith said that although he had expected to open the restaurant before last semester, the finished product was well worth the wait.
"We're trying to serve a pretty quick, high-quality meal in a relaxed, fun atmosphere," he said. "That's sort of the whole scheme."
The restaurant centers around a creation called a [Grill]-Ski, a grilled tortilla wrap with fillings such as chicken, steak or eggs along with cheese, dressing and freshly cut, grilled vegetables.
Smith said the interesting name of the restaurant and its menu items stems from his nickname in college.
"We used to say 'ski' after everything," Smith said, which he and his friends modeled after the term "brewski."
"Everyone laughed and had a good time."
He said he eventually got the nickname B-Ski and decided to use it for the restaurant.
Aaron Block, a fourth-year science graduate student, went to [B]Ski's twice in the first few days after it opened and said the food was better than he expected.
"The atmosphere is nicer than most restaurants in its price range," Block said.
He said his favorite [Grill]-Ski so far is the Caesar-ski - essentially a caesar salad grilled in a wrap.
"I liked it better than the chicken-ski," he said.
But Smith said the wrap that is "selling like hot cakes" is the A.K.-ski, which has chicken tenders, hot sauce, pepper-jack cheese, lettuce and ranch dressing.
Smith said the restaurant will begin delivery service soon.
"Most likely (delivery service will start) in June, but definitely by next fall," he said.
Smith and Bellard moved to North Carolina from Michigan in 2005, and Bellard said they have grown to love the area.
"We've already made friends with all of the Franklin Street business owners," she said.
Smith said part of the allure he hopes his restaurant will have is the fact that it will serve eggs at all times of the day, which he said is something he always enjoys.
[B]Ski's is open from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
"Coming from Michigan where there's access to food at all times, here there's nothing after 10," Bellard said. "Hopefully, we can spice up the nightlife."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(05/25/06 4:00am)
Chapel Hill prides itself on its culture and history, and one way it aims to hold onto those qualities is through regulations regarding development in residential areas called neighborhood conservation districts.
At a meeting last week the Town Council held a public hearing to discuss proposed neighborhood conservation district guidelines for four neighborhoods.
The Coker Hills, Greenwood, Morgan Creek/Kings Mill Road and Pine Knolls neighborhoods were all topics of debate as proposed rules and regulations for development were discussed.
Neighborhood conservation districts, as explained on the council's Web site, are created to "preserve and protect unique and distinctive older in-town residential neighborhoods or commercial districts, which contribute significantly to the overall character and identity of the town."
Ordinances created by these conservation districts can include maximum building height, maximum percentage of the front yard used for parking and maximum fence height.
Chapel Hill already has established one neighborhood conservation district in the Northside community.
This community was put in place in 2003 to help restrict the construction of homes catering solely to the student housing market.
Neighborhood conservation districts are a heated issue, with many residents appreciating the preservation aspect of the regulations and others feeling restricted and locked-in because of all of the ordinances.
Brian Sanders, of 412 Clayton Road, which is a part of the Coker Hills neighborhood, said that although he does not personally believe a neighborhood conservation district is the best answer for preserving his community, he thinks the discussion within his neighborhood about the proposal has proven helpful.
"I believe the debate, albeit painful, has been beneficial because it's bringing more of our neighbors into the discussion," Sanders said.
"If we took all of the negative energy that is circling around the Coker Hills NCD and focus it on finding a compromise, I think that we will."
Other neighborhoods have discussed plans for conservation districts with much less tension.
Mayor Pro Tem Bill Strom said that he attended meetings in the Greenwood neighborhood and that the meetings were great for the community.
"I've been to neighborhood meetings that discuss speed bumps that were much more contentious than these conversations about serious zoning overlays," he said.
Laura Moore, of 614 Morgan Creek Road, which is part of the Morgan Creek/Kings Mill Road neighborhood, said her neighborhood has had good discussions about the issue because of the spread of information and the varying opinions throughout the community.
The council hired Clarion Associates LLC, headed by former planning director Roger Waldon, to prepare and complete the conservation districts for the four neighborhoods.
Mayor Kevin Foy said the council will delay making any final decisions about whether to apply the zoning until June 12, at the earliest.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(05/18/06 4:00am)
After three months and three meetings, the Leadership Advisory Committee - formed to discuss Carolina North, the University's planned satellite campus - has come to one main decision: agree to disagree.
Ken Broun, a University professor and chairman of the committee, said the group now understands that there are "a lot of people involved with very different views."
The committee consists of Chapel Hill and Carrboro officials, University faculty and community leaders.
(05/18/06 4:00am)
It is a dilemma that often affects students and local residents: to wait for the bus or to not wait for the bus?
So in recent weeks, Chapel Hill has taken steps to help residents know with certainty when to wait and when to walk.
The town awarded a contract worth about $950,000 to NextBus Inc., a California-based company that will bring GPS satellite-tracking technology to Chapel Hill Transit.
Passengers will be able to look on the Internet or use their cell phones to see an approximate arrival time for their bus based on the NextBus real-time tracking technology.
Steve Spade, director of Chapel Hill Transit, said 14 bus stops - including Manning Drive at UNC Hospitals and South Road at the Student Union - will have digitized signs showing the estimated arrival times of buses.
"Information for the riders on when the next bus will be available, or how late it'll be, is going to be more readily available," Spade said.
"Having the automated vehicle-location system will allow us better to manage the system as you watch the operation of vehicles," he said.
Chapel Hill chose NextBus from among four candidates to provide the tracking technology. Spade said this is because the company had a good track record and provided the town with flexibility.
"NextBus was the only one that had existing operating technology that's being used by other transit systems," Spade said.
The company has its technology installed in cities such as San Francisco, Denver and Washington, D.C.
Owen Moore, president of Grey Island Systems International Inc. - NextBus's parent company - said the technology will give passengers confidence in knowing how much time they have to wait for the next bus, which will increase ridership and promote public transportation.
"In today's day, with gas prices rising and the need to really promote public transit, NextBus is an ideal solution," he said.
Some local residents have voiced concern about NextBus' reliance on GPS and cell phone technology. They suggested that the company could use wireless systems to get the job done, but Moore said those systems - including WiFi and WiMAX - are not feasible.
WiFi's range only extends a short distance and is meant to be used in places such as coffee shops, he said. Walking between stores can make a person drop his connection.
"To try and deploy WiFi on a citywide basis, you would need to put up hundreds and hundreds of these little antennas to get full coverage," Moore said.
He said that WiMAX is "interesting technology," that NextBus has tested over the system and that it is possible to use, but there are not many places that have that type of system in place.
However, Michael Smith, director of engineering at NextBus, said the company's system is easily updated. "We don't really care how the information is carried," he said. "We can always change that."
Spade said Chapel Hill intends to have the NextBus system up and running in time for the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.