Ruby Sinreich's blog
Former Orange County School Board Member Dennis Whitling is now on probation and owes $106,138.24 in penalties after being convicted of embezzling funds from a former employer. His jail sentence was suspended but he'll also have to do at least 100 hours of community service.
As many of you know, I have had harsh words for the inter-city visits organized by the Community Leadership Council (an arm of the Chamber of Commerce). I still believe what I said on July 11th:
I'd be willing to go under certain
circumstances, but I would not pay my own money for a junket that
promotes someone else's agenda. (Plus I couldn't afford it, even I
wanted to pay.) If I did go, it would mostly be as a blogger so that I
could get better informed and tell others what actually goes on, what
is learned, etc.
It seems like one of the main benefits of these
trips is better relations between the participants, who are already the
connected power brokers in town from the university, government,
business, and nonprofit worlds. They could certainly save money and
include more people by having a conference or retreat here in NC and
bringing in experts from other places.
Every year the Town of Chapel Hill gears up for the enormous crowds that come to Franklin Street on Halloween, whether we want them to or not. I've been participating in this ritual on and off since I was an undergrad at UNC (in other words, a long time) and I think it has value for the community. While some individuals will always take it too far, most people are engaging in a healthy type of creative expression that is rare for adults.
I think the Town has done a good job of prohibiting alcohol and trying to control traffic. I also applaud the police department for understanding that this is event is a force of nature that can be controlled (somewhat) but not stopped. I'd like to suggest that we charge admission to the area. I think this would help keep the worst elements out of the mix and help pay for the enormous cost of hosting a Halloween party for revellers from across central North Carolina.
Just got the following announcement from the Town of Chapel Hill:
![[sharrow]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Sharedlanemarking.png)
The Town of Chapel Hill is installing a pilot sharrow project today (Tuesday, Aug. 19) through the week on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Estes Drive to North Street.
The sharrow, or shared-use pavement markings, is an experimental road treatment being evaluated as an accommodation for bicyclists under certain roadway conditions. A sharrow is a road marking to identify the shared use of a travel lane by bicyclists and passing motorists, indicating the legal and appropriate bicyclist line of travel; it cues motorists to pass bicyclists with sufficient clearance.
Didn't find the Town's press release very explanatory, so I looked it up and found the photo above.
A long time ago, I asked y'all how long you had lived here in Orange County. Almost half (49%) have been here for 5 to 20 years, and another 34% have lived here for more than 20 years. In the paper I recently saw some grumbling that the newer residents of Chapel Hill don't share the values of those of us who lived here in the "halcyon days" of outspoken progressive activism. I don't think this is necessarily true.
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