Web Run

Making Santa real sometimes difficult for mom
[Dec. 21, 2005] I had not given Santa much thought since Christmas, and I never expected on a windy, sunny day in March that my daughter would finally shake hands with the real McCoy. We were driving back from Chapel Hill and stopped at a little restaurant in Pittsboro. We weren’t that hungry and ordered some hot tea and chips and salsa. As we sat there munching the warm, salty chips, an old man with a white beard walked up. He asked my child how she was doing. With a mouth full of chips she told him all about her trip to the doctor and then counted to 100 in fives. By WEB RUN - The Pilot

U.S. 15-501 project finally complete
[Nov. 24, 2005] The Lewis family's home is right off U.S. 15-501 in northern Chatham County, and for the past four years they have been re-routed, slowed down and, at times, cut off from their daily travels. However, starting today that's all going to change. The state Department of Transportation painted the final lines, picked up the barrels and turned on the traffic lights Wednesday, finishing a four-year project that ran two years -- and several million dollars -- over budget. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Village rejects incorporating
[Nov. 16, 2005] David Monroe did not want his community to become a town. It would mean more taxes, and he was not convinced it was worth it, he said. A majority of Fearrington Village residents agreed with Monroe and rejected a measure to incorporate. But the results of the nonbinding vote show Fearrington is a village divided. Just 61 votes separated those who didn’t want Fearrington to become its own town from those who did. By WEB RUN - Chapel Hill News

Cary, Chatham County look to work together on planning
[Nov. 15, 2005] Development, and the promise of more to come, have Cary and Chatham County leaders trying again to manage how it will happen. Cary Town Council members and Chatham County commissioners have been meeting in small groups for several weeks to discuss the issue. By WEB RUN - Cary News

Fearrington keeps up the fight after incorporation rejected
[Nov. 15, 2005] Even though a recent vote nixed the idea of an incorporated Fearrington Village, residents say they will still fight to keep northern Chatham County a nice place to live. When the ballots were counted late last week, it turned out that a small majority -- 53 percent -- was in favor of keeping Fearrington unincorporated. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

New high school, no tax hike?
[Nov. 7, 2005] Chatham County officials unveiled a new capital improvements plan that will fund a new high school in the northern part of the county without, they say, raising taxes. The new plan will allow the county to build 11 public facilities -- including the school -- with the money gathered from a variety of financial mechanisms, including impact taxes, certificates of participation, a school bond and the 4-cent property tax increase voted in earlier this year. In total, the county plans to spend $133 million over the next five years, which will leave it in debt until at least 2023. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Brown greens leave golfers blue
[Oct. 12, 2005] The greens aren't so green these days at Governor's Club Golf Course. Something has killed most of the greens, forcing the private golf club to dig up and resurface all 27 holes. Members of the club, who pay $525 a month in dues to play the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, have been using temporary greens since August and don't expect to play the full course until December, at the earliest. By WEB RUN - N&O

DOT pledges 15-501 will be finished this year
[Oct. 5, 2005] February 2001 -- that's when construction crews started widening a section of Highway 15-501 from Pittsboro to Chapel Hill. Turning a 12.7-mile stretch of two lanes into four lanes was supposed to wrap up in 2003, but workers still are not finished with construction. But now there is a new pledge from the N.C. Department of Transportation (DOT), which said the 15-501 widening project will be completed by the end of the year. By WEB RUN - WRAL-TV

Three arrested after three-county police chase
[Oct. 5, 2005] Three suspects were arrested Tuesday after a morning vehicle chase that spanned three counties. Police said the chase began as Carrboro police pursued a stolen sport utility vehicle from Chapel Hill. Officers then followed the vehicle into Chatham County, then Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. Police then followed the vehicle to Durham, and then back to Chapel Hill, where at one point, officers say the suspects -- two women and a man -- drove down Franklin Street at estimated speeds of 70 to 80 mph By WEB RUN - WRAL-TV

Citizens group wants growth rules along U.S. 15-501
[Sep. 12, 2005] During the public comments section of a Chatham County Commissioners meeting last week, Rita Spina's voice trembled as she made her impassioned plea for an ordinance to regulate development along U.S. 15-501. "With the density of growth to come in the next 10 years, it is incumbent upon you to provide us with assurances that the beauty of this county can be preserved from this kind of sprawl," the vice president of Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities, a local slow-growth citizens group, said, clutching her prepared speech in one hand. The response from the commissioners? Silence. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Chatham commissioners approve design changes for industrial park
[Sep. 12, 2005] The Chatham County Board of Commissioners has approved design changes for the Chatham County Business/Industrial Park, located at a Siler City site behind Wal-Mart. Fred Hobbs, president of Hobbs, Upchurch & Associates, P.A., presented the design changes earlier this week that would reduce impact on regulated wetlands. The board has already agreed to sell 30 acres of property for $375,000 so a new Chatham Hospital could be built in Siler City. By WEB RUN - Sanford Herald

Shoppers have PLENTYs to spend
[Sep. 6, 2005] Carrboro, NC - NC Plenty, an area nonprofit organization that issues an unofficial local currency, is also in the business of giving it away. The first grant went to Chatham Marketplace, a group working to open a co-op food market in Pittsboro. They received 35 PLENTYs -- $350 -- from the group to hire a local artist to paint a mural at the old mill location that will be their home. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Hootenanny draws a crowd for do-si-dos
[Sep. 6, 2005] Halfway between Siler City and Pittsboro, where population density drops like a rock, wheels crunched to a halt over gray, gravel roads and dozens of University students tumbled out of cars. They made their way toward a treeline by the light of their cell phones. By WEB RUN - Daily Tar Heel

Sawed-off art
[Aug. 31, 2005] Karen Tiede's career as a chainsaw artist came to her as a bolt from the blue. Literally. "It was five years ago almost to the day, Labor Day 2000," Tiede said. "I was sitting on my porch, when a tree just in front of me was hit by lightning. There was this huge blast; the current traveled up through the porch, set my front door on fire and blew out all the circuits." By WEB RUN - Chapel Hill News