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The Morrisville & Preston ress Published Monthly Morrisville, N.C. July 26; 1991 Dith thertainly a thilly thought, thay neighbors By Judy Cregan Finding a name for a cul-de-sac in the new Park Grove subdivi sion off Morrisville Parkway has been a challenge for the home builder as well as the buyers. The original name of Aspen Court was printed on maps and the street sign was being made, says developer Mack McKinney, when Wake County planners in formed him that it could not be used. There already was an Aspen Court in Wake County. McKinney, vice president of Bill Clark Construction Co., re lates how difficult it has become to think up new names for streets. "It’s the worst part of developing a new subdivision. I hate it." he says. "Sometimes I literally make up words." That explains McKinney’s sec ond choice. Dith Court, a lisp-like name which obviously emerged from desperation, or better yet, "deihperation." Unfortunately for McKkney, Dith "wath" an idea that didn’t get very far. When Lisa Zambito, a research er for DuPont, went to her home closing and found out she would be moving to Dith Court instead of Aspen Court, she couldn't be lieve it. Zambito recalls, "I didn’t want to close on my house when I heard the name. I wanted it changed immediately." Cynthia Brinkley, who plans to buy a house on the six-lot cul-de- sac, took things one step further and suggested petitioning the county to have the name changed. She and her husband, Paul, agreed Dith wasn’t acceptable. Brinkley explains, "Because I don’t own my property yet, I could not actually file the peti tion." That didn’t stop her from find ing another Dith-gruntled neigh bor, Scott Canty, who was happy to file for the change under his name. Canty volunteered to head the petition effort because, as he puts it, he didn’t want his "yet unborn children" to grow up having people believe they had speech impediments. A guidance counselor at Durham’s Hillandale Elementary School, Canty jokes. "We didn’t want people trying to put our kids into special programs where they didn’t belong." Once, trying to order a pizza over the telephone, Canty had to repeat Dith several times befctfe finally spelling it. Canty says he realized then that Dith was a name he couldn’t tolerate. Develcq)er McKinney, who left it up to the home buyers to select a new name, points out the-dif ficulty involved in naming streets because "the planning board doesn’t want anything that looks or sounds like anything else in Wake County.” He realizes, how ever, that such a policy makes emergency calls less confusing. Dith could have caused chaos See STREET, page 2 AT HOME ON THE FARM-Ralph Watkins knows what’s going on in his community. He sits on Morrisville’s Planning and Zoning Board and lives within walking distance of some major projects the board has taken up. Growth surrounds Morrisville native’s island By SUZETTE RODRIGUEZ Ralph Watkins lives on an island. His 50-acre farm sits amid a sea of manicured office parks and tracts dotted by realtor signs an nouncing new office complexes along Airport Boulevard. '.Vhile the garden behind his home turns out Silver Queen com and Homestead tomatoes, bis neighbors out back are producing new truck terminals. Watkins grew up on a farm a little ways down the boulevard. Back then it was a dirt road. It was so seldom traveled that the mailman’s daily arrival brought folks out of their homes to greet him. Nowadays, the street carries thou sands of workers to offices nearby, making it hard during weekdays for Watkins to pull out of his driveway. But the changing landscape of the community in which Watkins has lived all his 70 years, doesn’t seem to bother him. Property joining his farm on the north has been sold and will soon be graded for a 60-acre Air Park Business Park. The frame house where he and his 10 brothers and sisters grew up was bulldozed about a month ago to make way for the new project. To the south, the neighboring property owner is cutting away tim ber and plans to sell his acreage for commercial development. Behind him, the new truck termi nals are an addition to a company already established there and grow ing. "With those buildings going up. I’m going to be tied up in here. I won’t be a country boy no more," he said. But Watkins; who has been a member of Morrisville’s Planning COMMERCIAL CLOSE BY-A new office park is going up where Ralph Watkins grew on Airport Boulevard. But the changing landscape brought on by Morrisville’s growth doesn’t worry Wat kins. and Zoning Board for the past six years, welcomes the new growth he sees. Watkins has had inquiries about selling his land. "But when I tell them the price, they back off," he said. And he doesn’t mind the noise the airplanes make as they fly over his home every few minutes ca" so from RDU. When a nearby community filed suit against the airport because their homes were in its flight pat terns, Watkins turned down an op portunity to sign on. "That airport was there before those people. Besides, there’s more important things to do and that air port means a lot to this county and Hindu society plans-to expand Morrisville temple ByBETHLANDI A site plan for a $1.2 million ex pansion project was recently ap proved for an organization based in Morrisville. niat may not sound like big news in an area where growth and construction have be come constants. But this project involves a Hindu temple. Morrisville seems an unlikely site for such a structure, but the Ncxth Carolina Hindu Society has called a six-aCTC site on Aviation Parkway hcnne since 1986. But now the 7,000-square-foot temple there is too small to accom modate a burgeoning membership and the myriad activities that keep the building occupied nearly every day of the week. When die Society began in 1976, its 40 members wctc content to meet in each other’s homes or to rent facilities fw their various ser vices, study groups and festivals. But as the Indian population grew in the Triangle, so did the need for a permanent meeting place. In 1980, the Society bought a house on Ashe Street in Raleigh. Six years lato', the group had amassed the resources to erect an authentic temple. The Society chose the Mor risville site because it is accessible to 1-40 and to the Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh areas where an estimated 2,000 Indian families now reside. (The Triangle has the largest Hindu population in the state. There is also a tranple located in Charlotte.) Now the Society boasts 700 families and that number is ex pected to reach 1,000 by the turn of the century. "As the membership has grown so has ttte demand on the temple," Arvind Shah said last week. Shah, president of the Society, noted that the Society conducts about 400 activities throughout the year at the temple. The present temple includes a stage, the temple area and an ac tivities hall. Each area can be sec tioned off with curtains to accom modate multiple activities. "When the groups were small, we could have sever^ activities going on at the same time in the temple," Shah said. "But now the groups are big and the sanctity of the temple is being affected." The building, which also includes a kitchen and library, is open every morning and every evening so members can worship at their con venience, he explained. A trailer behind the temple is used for extra classroom space. "The people are asking for more services," Shah said, "especially for the children and the senior citizens. And they want the temple to be a member of the community at large." To that end, die Society sponsors day camps, youth trips, a Meals on Wheels type program, and classes in four Indian languages, dancing, vegetarian cooking and music. Earlier this year, the Society sponsored a health fair featuring 20 medical doctors providing various tests and screenings free of charge. And the temple has hosted major Hindu leaders, events that draw people from all over the state to Morrisville. "The Hindus are a highly edu cated community,” Shah said, ex plaining that while many Indian wives stay at home, most have dou ble college degrees. "They demand more of the temple. So we bring in very, very talented priests to ex plain things in depth about the reli gion, not (!a the surface." The Hindu religion is very demo cratic, Shah explained, and takes into consideration the needs of the individual. He noted that there are many icons involved in the religion, but they each represent a different aspect of God. People are constantly learning and growing in their beliefs, he said. "The religion caters to these different stages of life." Proceeds from these recent events featuring Hindu leadeis, which at tracted several hundred people to the temple, will be used for the ex pansion project, Shah said. See EXPANSION, page 2 this state," he said. Watkins remembers the time be fore an airport, industry or any commercial growth came to Mor risville. As a boy he swept the floors and picked up around Ms. Ethel Taylor’s store on Saturday afternoons down at the comer for a Pepsi. He also helped out Hewy George, whose gener^ store was across the street, and would get a piece of cheese for pay. "I’m telling you, that was a treat," be said. He remembers riding on the mule and wagon to R.S. Dodd’s farm supply store on what is now N.C. 54. His father would buy a Coke and split it with him. Sometimes he got a piece of penny candy-it made his day. He remembers the Morrisville community as having a lot of loving people. When his mother got sick, the neighbors would bring over food. Everyone knew everyone. No one had any money. Among his neighbOTS were the Lumleys. He knew former Mayor Ernest Lumley’s father quite well. Watkin’s father, who lived to be 94, made his living tr^ping mink, raccoon, and other fur-bearing animals. He had more than 200 traps set in three coumies-Wake, FrankUn and Durham-and would sometimes stay away from home three days at a time. A state wildlife magazine once featured him as the "Tr^per of the Year." Watkins,’ mother also lived a long life. Up until a few rntmths before she di^ at age 101, she worked out in the fields, picking vegetables. "If she saw us sitting down even See WATKINS, page 2 Stars send few regrets when invited to Jimmy V Classic By Judy Cragan What does it take to get the big- name stars to play in the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic Aug. 27 at Prestonwood? Nicole Valvano, one of the late Jim Valvano’s three daughters, says that drawing the celebrities is not as difficult as it may sound. "Dad touched so many people in basked)all and broadcasting,” says Valvano, who heads up the celebrity and sponsor management portion of the classic. "I’m amazed at the amount of people who knew him or know of him." Landing basketball stars such as Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns, David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs and Christian Laettner of the Minnesota Timber- wolves is usually just a matter of making a phone call for the 26- year-old Valvano. She‘adds that most of the celebrities enjoy play ing golf and are glad to come out for a good cause. Valvano explains that the world of basketball is a tight-knit com munity. "All coaches and players are eager to get involved and spread the word of our cause," she says. It was Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski who was responsible in large part for landing Kevin Costner for this year’s clas sic, explains V^vano. Costner is a big basketball fan and when Krzyzewski, who is on the board of the Jimmy V Foundation for Can cer Research, ran into the actor at the NCAA Final Four in Seattle this year, he initiated some recruit ing of a different kind. See STARS, page 2 BULK RATE POSTAGE PAID MORRISVILLE, N.C, PERMIT *23 Delivered expressly to the residents of Morrisville and Preston
Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.)
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July 26, 1995, edition 1
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