Web Run

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

Jury trial for traffic ticket comes at a price
[Aug. 10, 2005] Pittsboro, NC -- He took six days off work, drove two hours each way to the courthouse and now owes the state about three times the money he would have if he had just paid the darned traffic ticket. But Edward Albert Hancuff, 61, of Robeson County now knows that 12 of his peers agree with a state trooper and a District Court judge that he should have taken a pass on passing that school bus in April. By WEB RUN - N&O

Chatham megastore plans fret neighbors
[Aug. 10, 2005] Local officials are requesting further investigation into the possible construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in northern Chatham County, saying that large-scale development there could exceed growth estimates outlined in the area's long range transportation plan. A meeting this morning of a regional transportation planning group will address concerns put forth by the Chapel Hill and Carrboro town boards that traffic generated by employees of the proposed shopping center might not be in compliance with air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Potter molds new path
[Aug. 7, 2005] Cooper-Mays has owned Cooper Mays Pottery and Gallery for 25 years, in a rustic wooden house on top of a steep embankment on the side of U.S. 15-501 between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro. Over the years the highway has expanded, the front yard has shrunk; at times the DOT has even removed the driveway to make way for construction. But the shop has remained, selling Cooper-Mays' uniquely decorated glazed ceramic dinnerware, as well as jewelry, paintings, and decorative glass objects by various other artisans. Now, Cooper-Mays is selling off everything: the shop, the studio, her kiln, her 83-acre cattle ranch in Snow Camp, her 40 head of cattle, and moving south. Costa Rica will be the next adventure for the 58-year-old potter, who plans to retire to the Central American country's Pacific coast, just as soon as she unloads her life here. By WEB RUN - N&O

Straw house insulated, efficient
[Aug. 6, 2005] Pittsboro, NC - A process nine years in the making, the walls of Murray and Jean Parker's 1,000-square-foot studio home just outside Pittsboro are finally up. Last month, 18 continuing education students participated in a workshop which taught them how to make walls with straw bales, and which brought the Parkers one step closer to being able to live in their new home. Murray Parker has dreamed of having a straw home for a while now. By WEB RUN - Herald-Sun

Latino group marks 10 years
[Aug. 5, 2005] Siler City, NC - First United Methodist Church has probably seen its share of barbecues and pancake suppers. But on a Friday night last month, the fellowship hall was fragrant with the aroma of cilantro, cumin and frying beans, as the Hispanic Liaison celebrated its 10th anniversary with a Mexican banquet. The Hispanic Liaison -- known as El V'nculo Hispano in Spanish -- is a Siler City nonprofit group serving Chatham County's growing Latino population with a Spanish-language radio show, workshops on housing rights and micro-loans, and other programs. By WEB RUN - N&O

Horse's ex-owner given fine, probation
[Aug. 3, 2005] Pittsboro, NC - The spotted saddle horse known as Rosa now shares a paddock with Harley, a stubborn, compact wild mustang with a big, calcified rear knee from a neglected injury. Rosa has fattened up nicely in the nearly three months since arriving, almost starved, at the Finish Line Foundation's horse sanctuary in Chatham County. She now weighs a healthy 1,150 pounds, about 2 1/2 times the 450 pounds she weighed when Chatham County animal control found the 10-year-old mare. By WEB RUN - N&O