Web Run

Geez, Louise: It'll be good to see you!
[Mar. 12, 2005] Carrboro - Missing: elderly woman, raincoat, shopping bag. Goes by the name of Louise. For six years, Louise never left that Weaver Street bench. Then in October, she disappeared, leaving a gray slab and a stir of e-mails, phone calls and puzzled people inquiring: "Where is she?" The cement sculpture outside the Frank Cole Building Company, just down the street from Weaver Street Market, will return this spring. She's in Pittsboro now, being primped and polished after a brutal beating last October. Her hefty 500-pound body was flipped over one late night before Halloween. Neck cracked, hat ripped, face stained with orange paint, she lay helpless on Weaver Street until morning. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

New ideas for old oil
[Mar. 11, 2005] The folks at Piedmont Biofuels call their new digs "The Plant," a play on words because they'll be manufacturing fuel out of vegetable oil. The group is tapping into a growing demand for alternative fuels and has plans to become one of the state's first commercial biodiesel manufacturers. It hopes to be making 1 million gallons a year in 18 months and could begin distributing it out of state as soon as April. Biodiesel is a vegetable oil derivative that is processed to work in regular diesel engines. It smells like french fries when it's burned and is often mixed with petroleum diesel to reduce emissions. By WEB RUN - N&O

Bowden's season: a real transition game
[Mar. 11, 2005] Prince Bowden expected Dudley to return to the state championship game. The senior hoped the Panthers would. After all, most of those guys are his friends. And all of them are his former teammates. In January, Bowden transferred from Dudley to Northwood in Pittsboro. The move cost him the chance to play for a state basketball title because the Chargers lost in the first round and Dudley returns to Saturday's title game. By WEB RUN - N&R

'Burbs boom, business looms
[Mar. 10, 2005] Until now, Chatham's nearly 60,000 residents have been too dispersed and too close to too many other population centers -- Chapel Hill, Cary, Sanford, Greensboro, Asheboro -- to warrant much interest from commercial developers. But the lack of options for local entertainment, retail and professional services is likely to change soon. A major highway expansion is set to finish this summer, fueling an impending boom in residential growth in northeast Chatham. Supermarkets, big box retailers and professional services are expected to follow. By WEB RUN - N&O

Chatham whistle-blower wins
[Mar. 10, 2005] For four years, Dan Phillips was a fugitive from all that was familiar in his native Chatham County. Humiliated by a very public ousting from the sheriff's department, he retreated from life, defeated by losing his job for what he says was doing his job -- reporting wrongdoing. He abandoned his hobbies and old haunts. When he wasn't ducking around town trying to avoid eye contact with neighbors and friends, he was on virtual house arrest in his Bennett home, a mortgage he paid with money borrowed from his elderly parents. On Wednesday, a jury awarded Phillips $102,000 in damages, finding that he was wrongly terminated as a sheriff's deputy. By WEB RUN - N&O

Chatham board OKs sewer for molding business
[Mar. 10, 2005] The Chatham County Board of Commissioners has given its blessing to the American Molding and Millworks project in Goldston. Chatham Economic Development Director Tony Tucker said the company is willing to move into the Kyser-Roth building, but not until it can get the wastewater issue resolved.
The City of Sanford is willing to treat the sewage if Chatham will run the line from the facility to the Sanford plant. A grant of $750,000 for the $1.2 million project has been obtained, Tucker said, but noted the remainder of the cost would have to be honored by the county. Some of the remainder money could come from another grant. By WEB RUN - Sanford Herald

Chatham watershed ordinance change proposed
[Mar. 10, 2005] A Chatham citizens action group plans to file for an ordinance change today that would ensure some protection from development in the county's watershed areas. Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities members say their watershed ordinance amendment wouldn't affect a proposed Bynum development, but it would protect about 24 parcels in river corridors. The amendment would quadruple the size of the buffer required along a riverbank, from 100 feet to 400 feet. It also would increase the buffer along perennial streams from 100 feet to 150 feet. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Ex-Chatham deputy who won civil suit loses federal case
[Mar. 10, 2005] As former Chatham County Deputy Dan Phillips was winning a civil lawsuit in Chatham County against his former boss for wrongfully firing him, Phillips was losing a separate lawsuit against another of his former bosses and the Chatham County school superintendent in federal court. On Wednesday, a Chatham County jury awarded Phillips more than $100,000 in damages in his lawsuit against former Chatham County Sheriff Ike Gray. Phillips and his attorney, Al McSurely, convinced the jury Gray fired the former deputy in retaliation for trying to reveal the racist remarks of a Chatham County school principal and for taking an informant to talk to the FBI about marijuana the sheriff's office had lost. Phillips had filed a separate lawsuit against schools Superintendent Larry Mabe and former Sheriff Don Whitt, claiming they engaged in a conspiracy to remove him from his job because he revealed the racist language and attitude of former Chatham Central High School Principal Buddy Fowler. While Phillips was making his case in Pittsboro, a federal judge with the U.S. District Court in Greensboro issued an order dismissing the claims against Whitt and Mabe. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Chapel Hill spars with Chatham commissioners over development
[Mar. 10, 2005] Debate over the growth of unrestrained development in Chatham County erupted at the Sierra Club’s Orange-Chatham Group meeting Wednesday at Chapel Hill Town Hall in a flood of environmental, economic and social concerns. The concerns mostly centered on the projected sprawl of about 9,000 new houses and 19,000 more people across Chatham County within the next 10 years. Chapel Hill citizens expressed concerns over Briar Chapel — one of the county’s 22 new developments — which will be placed five miles south of Chapel Hill off U.S. 15-501. Chatham County Commissioners approved Feb. 15 the construction of Briar Chapel, which will splash 2,389 new homes on 1,590 acres in northern Chatham County, according to the Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities’ planning board’s calculations. By WEB RUN - DTH

Felony death charge reinstated in crash
[Mar. 9, 2005] The N.C. Highway Patrol has reinstated a felony death by vehicle charge against a Pittsboro man who allegedly was drunk when he crashed his truck into an oncoming vehicle Saturday night, killing its driver. Bonita Ray Cumbie, 54, of Bowman Bare Road, Pittsboro, died in the accident on N.C. 87 about a mile north of Pittsboro about 9:30 p.m. James Daniel Lovingood, 37, of 921 Elmer Keck Road, Pittsboro, was charged with felony death by vehicle Tuesday night. He also faces charges of felony hit and run and driving left of center. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Chatham ex-deputy wins suit on firing
[Mar. 9, 2005] A jury decided Wednesday that former Chatham County Sheriff Ike Gray wrongfully fired a deputy who tried to report racism by a high school principal and took an informant to the FBI about missing marijuana. The jury awarded former deputy Dan Phillips $101,754 after spending about five hours going through a set of questions on the verdict sheet that asked them to determine why Gray fired him and whether Gray acted with malice or corruptly when he did. On each question, the jury ruled in Phillips' favor. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Jury gets case vs. former sheriff
[Mar. 9, 2005] Did former Chatham County sheriff Ike Gray act with malice or in a corrupt manner when he fired deputy Dan Phillips in January 2001? That is the question a Chatham County jury will likely decide today in a civil lawsuit in which Phillips is suing Gray for wrongfully firing him. After a day of attorney arguments and the judge's instructions on the law, jury members got the case late Tuesday afternoon, but only deliberated for about 40 minutes before deciding to go home for the day. They are scheduled to return at 9:30 a.m. today to resume deliberations. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Troopers want DWI charge reinstated in fatal wreck
[Mar. 8, 2005] North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers are trying to get a drunken driving charge reinstated against the suspect of a weekend wreck that killed a woman. A Chatham County magistrate dismissed the driving while intoxicated charge against James Lovingood, 37, of Pittsboro, for a lack of probable cause.
Lovingood was arrested Saturday and charged in connection with a Friday night wreck in which a truck collided head-on with a Dodge Caravan on North Carolina Highway 87 at Chicken Bridge Road. The accident killed Bonita Cumbie, who was driving the minivan, authorities said. The truck overturned following impact, and the driver climbed out and fled the scene on foot, authorities said. A search involving dogs and a helicopter led to Lovingood's arrest about six hours later. By WEB RUN - NBC17

Chatham looks at needs, growth
[Mar. 8, 2005] Chatham County is looking at approximately $152 million in upcoming capital projects, including more than $103 million for school projects. But commissioner Mike Cross has concerns about how residential development is going to pay for county needs. While not calling for a full moratorium on residential development, Cross would favor limiting the number of homes per development, for a period of time, while organizing and addressing concerns. He notes that he has no desire to restrain local developers, builders or real estate professionals' ability to do business, "but I think it's time for this discussion." By WEB RUN - Sanford Herald