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(01/12/07 5:00am)
The Orange County Rescue Squad is getting new personal protective equipment courtesy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The squad received a $14,054 grant last month made possible through the department's Fiscal Year 2006 Assistance to Firefighters Grant program.
The funds are earmarked to help purchase $17,568 of equipment. The grant will cover close to 80 percent of the cost to the group, which serves as a first responder in instances that require heavy rescue, vehicle extrication and industrial extrication. The squad also has land search and rescue teams.
Kent McKenzie, interim emergency management director for Orange County, helps oversee the squad and said the grant provides needed funds.
He stressed the importance of federal support and the impact of grants on local agencies.
"They enable departments across the country to focus on their core mission and enable those departments to get equipment they might not be able to otherwise afford," he said. "All the public safety agencies are pursuing funding as seriously as we can."
Homeland security announced grants to more than 800 fire departments and first responder organizations in October. The announcement made Dec. 26, which added the Orange County Rescue Squad, brought the total grants to $485 million for 5,000 fire-related organizations nationwide.
"Emergency response is inherently local, and these resources support those who serve us all, our nation's firefighters," said George Foresman, under secretary for preparedness, in an October statement. "Firefighters are among those on the front lines of our homeland security."
Since 2001, the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program has provided $2.4 billion in grants to fire departments and first responder organizations for response and personal protective equipment, vehicles and fire prevention activities.
For the fiscal year 2006, more than 18,000 applications requesting grants totalling nearly $2.5 billion were received.
The Carrboro Fire Department received a grant worth $84,012 to purchase equipment in November. More than 80 grants were issued to N.C. responder groups this year.
John Yarboro, Homeland Security branch chief for emergency management in North Carolina, said the grant helps the state better prepare itself to handle a major disaster.
"All emergencies start at the local level, and so what we're trying to do at the state level is build local capability that can support state capabilities in a crisis of an emergency situation," Yarboro said.
"Everyone's kind of on their own for the first 72 hours (of an emergency), so we have to build up local resources."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(01/10/07 5:00am)
Franklin Street will be a little less preppy while one of its landmark businesses closes shop temporarily in an anticipation of a move to new headquarters down the street.
(11/16/06 5:00am)
The meeting began casually as parents sat in the library Wednesday night at Grey Culbreth Middle School eating popcorn and talking to one another.
But five minutes into the presentation, parents were learning about substance abuse, Internet predators, gang violence and overall undisciplined behavior among teenagers.
Not exactly typical popcorn conversation.
The presentation, "Reality Check," sponsored by the Joint High School Drug and Alcohol Awareness Task Force, focused on risky adolescent behaviors and ways parents can monitor their children's actions.
Past meetings focused only on alcohol and drug awareness.
"We found that we needed to give people a broader base of material," said Dale Pratt-Wilson, director of the Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers.
Almost 50 parents and students attended the presentation, given by Matt Sullivan, a police crisis counselor, and Chapel Hill police officers Bryan Walker and Mitch McKinney.
"We started this presentation about six years ago," Sullivan said.
"Parents needed information and teachers needed information about what was going on with their kids. There was a big disconnect."
Sullivan, Walker and McKinney discussed adolescent alcohol and drug use, Internet dangers and teen-gang involvement.
"It's important to realize that the world we grew up in is not the same as the world our children are growing up in," Sullivan said.
All three speakers stressed that many teens engage in risky behaviors, such as drug use, voluntarily.
"Kids are voluntarily taking things, and then having a negative experience or they are being taken advantage of afterwards," Sullivan said.
Walker encouraged parents to share the information they learned with their children.
"They listened to me, and they'll listen to you," he said.
McKinney also urged parents to become aware of the dangers to prevent their children from getting involved in risky behavior.
"If your answer is, 'I don't know a lot about that problem,' then educate yourself," McKinney said.
"The only way we positively impact a community is if we get together to solve it."
Parents who attended said the meeting was informative and eye-opening.
"I came because I didn't know enough about what is going on in our schools," said Beth Merritt, whose daughter attends Culbreth Middle School.
"Some of the drugs surprised me. I had no idea kids were using that stuff. I thought that was just on CSI."
Susan Wilson, whose son also attends Culbreth, said she was surprised by gang activity in the community.
McKinney showed recent photographs of gang graffiti on a wall at Southern Village that Wilson said shocked her.
"I feel so naive," she said. "I'm just glad my son didn't recognize it as that either."
Sullivan said that the meeting was an important part of bringing parents together to fight a common goal.
"Having you all together here tonight is important for you to know that you have allies in saying no to your children."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(11/15/06 5:00am)
Eating lunch at the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service community kitchen on Tuesday, Richard Dodgin said that it felt like Christmas.
"Usually people don't pay attention to those who are homeless and those who are hungry until Christmastime," he said. "Usually it's not even in their minds."
Dodgin's feelings stem from Restaurants Sharing V(5) + V(5) Percent, a program that helps to alleviate hunger in the Triangle by urging residents to "eat locally, feed locally" for a day.
Tuesday, 126 Chapel Hill and Carrboro restaurants participated in the campaign, donating 10 percent of their breakfast, lunch and dinner earnings to the IFC, Urban Ministries of Durham's Community Kitchen and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
Throughout the day, businesses reported more sales than usual because of RSVVP.
"It was maybe even a little busier than in years past," said Daisy Maness, manager at the Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe on Franklin Street.
Angie Owens, manager of Carolina Coffee Shop, reported high sales during lunch.
"Hopefully dinner will pick up even more," she said. "Dinner is usually good for that. A lot of people come in for this."
A glance down Franklin Street on Tuesday evening showed many residents taking advantage of RSVVP.
Patrick Turner, a junior sociology major, said the program was his reason for dining with his friends at Carolina Coffee Shop on Tuesday.
"I volunteer with the IFC and I know that the nonprofits always need more money," he said. "It doesn't hurt anyone to go out, if they can, and every little bit helps."
At participating restaurants, employees said their involvement in RSVVP is an important part of participating in the community.
"We try to be more than just a restaurant," said Lauren Watson, a senior who works at Spanky's Restaurant and Bar. "We really try to be a part of a community. We're right on the corner, and we kind of have a big stake in helping the community."
And those working at the IFC were grateful for the assistance.
"One of the things about running a nonprofit is we are constantly running into the problem of funds," said Rolake Omoregie, an intern at the IFC community kitchen. "We need whatever income we can get just so we can feed these people."
During the 2005-06 fiscal year, the IFC provided 85,005 meals and 7,726 bags of food, feeding 7,187 individuals in all.
"There's a whole lot of people that wouldn't get a bite to eat, who wouldn't have a safe place to put their heads at night if it wasn't for the IFC," said Clifton Mathar, a patron at the IFC kitchen on Tuesday.
Mathar said that it was his first meal in two days.
"This is a great idea. Why charge the taxpayer when you have willing contributors who want to help?"
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(10/26/06 4:00am)
In the Wentworth and Sloan storefront window on Franklin Street, next to the necklaces, bracelets and rings the store sells, a framed photo of head football coach John Bunting is displayed.
"I have to show how much I respect that man and that team," said Ken Jackson, owner of the shop.
After being in the hot seat during this year's 1-6 season, Athletics Director Dick Baddour announced his decision to fire Bunting at a news conference Monday.
On Franklin Street, the reaction to the announcement has been mixed.
"He did a phenomenal job representing this University across the state," Jackson said. "The impact he has had in the business community has been incredibly positive."
Bunting is often seen walking on Franklin Street on Sunday mornings, frequenting restaurants and stores. When Bunting brought recruits to visit the town, he took them downtown.
"He lets them know that they are going to be a part of a community," Jackson said.
Still, business owners acknowledged the football program was not performing at its best.
"His heart was in Carolina football, but he just wasn't delivering the results," said Hector's manager Jos
(10/11/06 4:00am)
Four-year-old Bennett Barnes smiled as he marched in step with the parade.
As he held a traditional Vietnamese lantern in his hand, his feet marched to the beat of the music playing in the background.
Meanwhile Vietnamese-American Carol Nguyen read the lyrics to a festival folk song.
"Walk around with lanterns lit. Take them all across the town, singing to the autumn moon. Take my lantern to the sky, take my lantern to the moon," she sang.
The parade was part of a special program held at Kidzu Children's Museum in downtown Chapel Hill. It represented traditional Vietnamese parades that occur during Tet-Trung-Thu - the mid-autumn festival honoring children.
The festival also honors the harvest and the moon, which is brightest during this time of the year.
The program was held as a part of Kidzu's fall exhibit "Every Picture Tells a Story," and helped kick off the museum's Celebration of Many Cultures.
During the celebration, UNC international studies students and community members will visit the museum to give presentations about cultures from around the globe.
Nguyen spoke with parents and their children Tuesday and gave a presentation about Vietnamese culture.
The festival occurs on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and generally is celebrated during the first weekend of October in the United States.
"Vietnamese families plan their activities around their children on this day," Nguyen said.
"Parents use the mid-autumn festival as an opportunity to show their love for their children."
The lanterns Barnes and the other children held are a common sight at the parades held in villages and towns across Vietnam.
Children perform "little dances" for their parents and enjoy moon cakes, cookies made once a year for the festival, Nguyen said.
Nguyen said her involvement with the program came out of a desire to teach children about diversity and about her culture.
"I think it's just important that children be exposed to lots of cultures and diversity when they're younger," Nguyen said.
"It makes them more accepting when they're older."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.