Government

I spent most of Sunday afternoon out at the Haw River just outside the mill village of Swepsonville about five miles upstream of Saxapahaw.  I managed to enjoy most of my time out there even though I was there was because I have been having trouble there with trespassers.  The land I own out there is the hydro-electric power plant that formerly powered the cotton mill in Swepsonville.

My hydro-electric plant has been out of operation for about 40 years and the windows in the building are almost completely broken out.  Inside the building are huge, deep holes in the floor where the generators once sat atop the turbines.  I have been gradually working on making the interior of the building safer by covering over the huge holes in the floor, but the building is definitely not a safe place for unwary visitors.

In a series of unfortunate events, a group of folks (who do not represent Occupy Chapel Hill) decided to break into and occupy the abandoned neglected University Chrysler building on West Franklin Street (between 411 West and Lantern). This is one of many properties owned by Joe Riddle that have been left vacant for years on end. While I think their encampment was probably an improvement to the space, I have to admit that if it was my house and someone decided to move in, I'd probably call the cops, too.

So that's what Riddle did, putting the town in the position of having to get the protesters out. I've been hearing a lot of reports about what happened, only some of which can be confirmed right now. But it seems as if the police were unnecessarily heavy-handed. Given that Police Chief Chris Blue has been very open and communicative with Occupy Chapel Hill-Carrboro group at Peace and Justice Plaza, this is somewhat surprising. But it also bears reminding that this group IS NOT the same as Occupy CHC and I doubt they were as interested in maintaining a good relationship with the town.