In My Opinion

December
[Aug. 22, 2006] At the point I am writing this, Tuesday morning, there is still one more evening of hearings to go on redistricting. The discussions of Monday night, as with the July Board of commisioners' meeting, have poured into the next day. But I can already predict the ending. By Larry Hicks

Chatham's estimated water needs are off target
[Aug. 9, 2006] Chatham County's estimated need for water is about six times current usage of 1.17mgd and is nonsense. As I told our commissioners in 2001, Hobb's estimates were based on peak demand whereas (according to the State) estimates of growth should be based on average demand. By Elliot Cramer

No rush to decide on water supply issues for Chatham County
[Aug. 7, 2006] The Chatham County Board of Commissioners has apparently agreed to spend $32 million to obtain water from Harnett County, including $8.7 million to upgrade Harnett's water treatment plant. Just this year the current board has already transferred $5 million from the fund balance to accommodate the Harnett County option.

Flashing lights at Cole Park are a safety hazard
[Jun. 28, 2006] The ongoing problems with the lights at Cole Park have been something I've been talking with folks about for over a year and a half now. Anytime there is a power surge or the lights go out this light goes into flash mode. The only person who can fix it is a tech. that has to come from Carthage. That usually takes 2 hours. That is unacceptable. By Meg Miller

The spandex menace
[Jun. 26, 2006] Driving along Pittsboro’s winding roads, I await the day’s first sighting. Gritted teeth and clenched fists suppressing my agitation, I spot the first, teetering just ahead and sporting a nauseating array of neon hues to announce his presence. Yet as I approach, I feel a lead weight sink in my stomach, for I have unwittingly come upon a herd of them, sweat dripping and marathon numbers positioned precisely on their backs. By Samantha Reichle

Chatham's water plans ARE all wet
[Jun. 26, 2006] After reading Ron Singleton's statement in the Chatham Journal "Are Chatham's water plans all wet", I have a feeling of deja vu. On February 8, 2000 I made a statement to the Chatham Board regarding a consultant's projections of Chatham's water requirements. At that time, as Singleton notes, Chatham had an allocation of 6mgd (millions of gallons per day) and was using about 1mgd with a historic pattern of slow growth in demand. By Elliot M. Cramer

Chatham's water plans all wet
[Jun. 1, 2006] I am very concerned about the path you all have apparently headed down to obtain additional water supply for Chatham County. A decision was made some 15 years ago by your predecessors to utilize Lake B. Everett Jordan for the long term water needs of the county. That decision was sound then and it is still sound. Lake Jordan is the most reliable and cheapest water source that the county can ever have. By Ronald D. Singleton, PE

Chatham water system in trouble
[Mar. 3, 2006] Will Baker, Chatham County Water Utilities Director, resigned as of March 3, citing lack of management support in the County and continuing interference in water utility management. Mr. Baker, apparently notified the County Manager three weeks ago of his intention to resign, unless he was given the necessary administrative and managerial authority to run the department and to report directly to the County Manager. By John Hammond

Cary annexing a "cow plop"
[Feb. 22, 2006] A forty five acre parcel in Chatham County is being considered for annexation by Cary this Thursday,Feb. 23 at the Town of Cary complex on Academy Street at 6:30 pm. This annexation petition is what I refer to as a cow plop; that is, it is non-contiguous annexation to the city limits of Cary. By Sally Kost

The Chatham horror: A poe'm
[Jan. 14, 2006] Once upon a morning D.R. Eerie, while we pondered confused and leery, over many quaint and curious lines of accountancy. Despite the sense of the open meeting, facts of course "they are so fleeting, no one will catch that we are cheating." Quoth the raven "D. R. E."

Our options for voting machines are better than BOE says
[Jan. 14, 2006] A couple weeks ago I wrote a letter to the Chatham Chatlist entitled “Why Should I Care About Voting Machines?” A few days later nearly a hundred people showed up at a poorly advertised forum on voting machines. After watching the salesman demonstrate his machines, the forum was opened to questions & answers. The Board of Elections were unwilling to talk about the cost of these machines until after the Q&A period. Many in the audience felt they were being deceived and didn't hesitate to vocalize this feeling. By John Bonitz

Board of Elections selects the wrong new voting machine option
[Jan. 11, 2006] On Wednesday evening, January 4, 2006 the Chatham County Board of Elections held a public forum to address the decision the County must make (as mandated by the State) on new voting machines for the county. In a presentation both systems (the Optical Scan Tabulation System and the Direct Record Election System DRE) merits were shown. A spirited question and answer session followed. By Nick Meyer

Why should I care about voting machines?
[Jan. 2, 2006] Here in Chatham County we vote on good-ol reliable paper ballots, which are then counted by a mechanical optical scanner device. For many years this has been our system. The machines are old and expensive to maintain, but people know them and trust them. Plus you've got durable paper ballots to recount, if need be. By John Bonitz

Why put out the asphalt welcome mat for developers?
[Nov. 22, 2005] My name is Mark Barroso and I represent Chatham First, a grassroots group organized to oppose a big box store in north Chatham and a new Wal mart in the county. It is puzzling to us why this commission would rush willy-nilly into putting out the asphalt welcome mat for developers who want to maximize their profits at the expense of your citizens stuck in traffic, stuck with North Raleigh ugliness and stuck with the tax bill that comes with a community that is only a bedroom for the rest of the Triangle. By Mark Barroso
Also: Chatham First